Allée of Chestnut Trees

• Alfred Sisley (1839–1899)
• 1878
• Oil on canvas
• Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
• (1975.1.211)

Tall, leafy trees line both sides of a road curving along the Seine. At the river’s edge, small boats are moored. Alfred Sisley, the Impressionist painter, depicted people strolling and a horse-drawn carriage passing by as dark silhouettes along the shaded path in Sèvres, west of Paris. Dabs of pink among the green leaves indicate blossoms, suggesting that the painting was made in late spring or early summer, when chestnut trees are in bloom.