Lane near a Small Town

Lane near a Small Town is believed to be the earliest known Sisley painting. From 1862, he studied at the Paris École des Beaux-Arts within the atelier of Swiss artist Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre, where he became acquainted with Frédéric Bazille, Claude Monet, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Together, they would paint landscapes en plein air rather than in the studio. This was in an attempt to realistically capture the transient effects of sunlight. This innovative approach was considered radical at the time and yielded more colorful, vivid paintings than the public had hitherto known. Consequently, their works were rejected by the establishment. The jury of the most important art exhibition in France, the annual Salon denied them any praise. Initially, they found it hard to survive financially. However, during the 1860s, Sisley was in a better financial position than some of his fellow artists, as he received an allowance from his father.