Alfred Sisley was an Impressionist landscape painter who was dedicated to painting “en plein air,” in order to capture the beauty of his natural subjects. Le Lavoir de Billancourt, 1879 captures a wash house in Billancourt, a small suburb outside of Paris, alongside the shore of the Seine–a common scene for Sisley, whose paintings of the river were his most notable. The painting shows how Sisley captured the tranquility of nature, through fluid strokes and pastel colors.

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