Flood at Pont-Marly
Albert Sisley
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An oil on canvas painting from 1876 in the Impressionist style. Currently owned by Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, Rouen, France. It is 50 x 61 cm (ratio 1.22). He produced seven paintings of the floods over a period of 5 years.
Oil on canvas board. Size 20.3 x 25.4cm. ratio 1.25 (2025)
Without doubt, I did not make the house wide enough! I started by painting the house and distant hills, then the trees to the right. It was only when I put in the central band of flooded trees that I could see the error in the house width.
Sisley used short brushstrokes for the water which appear to be a pale warm blue base with dashes of creams, olive green and yellow ochre highlights with fewer dark brown/grey relflections. The house reflection appears to be a yellow ochre base with highlights and low lights forming the ripples.
The sky is far more blended than the sea, but there are still obvious brushstrokes. Depending on the reproduction, the sky is a significantly warmer hue than I achieved with my palette. Similarly the distant hills are a deep violet/blue hue which I left as a dark grey/blue.
Its almost impossible to distinguish what the central band is depicting, but in the other paintings Sisley did of this view, there is a house on the end of the band of trees.
Notes to me......
• Be careful about the ratio of the canvas board – don’t assume it’s the same as the board
• Check the original composition more carefully
• If the artist has produced more than one view, then check specific features