Cleveland Museum of Art

Canal in Autumn (Gisors)

Henri Le Sidaner

Date

1913

Medium

oil on canvas

Culture

France, early 20th century

Department

Modern European Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This painting depicts a canal in Gisors, a commune in Normandy, about 40 miles northwest of Paris on the river Epte. Le Sidaner painted this work in a Divisionist technique of applying pure color in large, broken strokes, often separated by areas of white or gray. Unlike the Impressionists, Le Sidaner preferred a restrained palette of delicately nuanced tones that evoke a mood of quiet mystery. His views of old canals, typically portrayed in a crepuscular or nocturnal light, and completely absent of figures, allude to the passage of time and a timeless eternity that exceeds the human life span. Le Sidaner often painted from memory rather than directly on site, and his subdued use of color applied in uneven brushstrokes bring a poetic, dreamlike effect to his paintings.

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