Snow at Louveciennes
- Artist: Alfred Sisley
- Date: c. 1874
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The Courtauld Gallery
- Collection record: The Courtauld Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is “Snow at Louveciennes” by Alfred Sisley, created around 1874. Sisley chose the quiet village of Louveciennes, just sixteen kilometres west of Paris, for a series of winter studies during the 1870s. In this oil on canvas, he layers a delicate white coat over the unpaved road, the thatched roofs of the houses, and the soft, wooded hills that roll beyond. The muted palette—greys, pale blues, and subtle ochres—creates an overcast atmosphere, almost as if the whole scene is wrapped in a gentle, diffused light. You can see how the snow is not a thick blanket but a thin hush, allowing the landscape’s contours to remain visible while still suggesting the chill of winter.
Sisley was not alone in this corner of France. Both Monet and Pissarro were also drawn to Louveciennes, and their work from the same period echoes a shared fascination with capturing fleeting light and weather. In Sisley’s hands, however, the scene feels tranquil and introspective; there’s a sense of quiet observation rather than the energetic brushwork you might find in Monet’s later studies. The canvas invites the viewer to linger, noticing how the subtle variations in tone mirror the muted glow of an overcast day, and to appreciate how the artist balances the delicate interplay of light and snow in this serene setting.
See it in person
Snow at Louveciennes hangs in The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
