Road from Hampton Court 1874

Editor: So this is Alfred Sisley’s “Road from Hampton Court,” painted in 1874. I’m immediately drawn to the calm, almost subdued, atmosphere. The river is still, the colors are muted… What social currents do you think might have shaped this seemingly tranquil scene? Curator: I see Sisley’s work here as quietly subversive. The Impressionists, broadly, were invested in depicting modern life, but not always in celebratory ways. Think about the rapid industrialization occurring at this time and who benefits and who doesn't. A scene like this, ostensibly capturing leisure, also begs the question: Whose leisure is this? What social class is represented? And who is excluded? Consider also the environmental impact, which artists begin to make visible. What does that haze on the horizon tell you? Editor: It hints at a world beyond leisure, perhaps a London struggling with the costs of progress. So the serenity is, in a way, a façade? Curator: Exactly. Think about the rise of the bourgeoisie and their deliberate construction of "natural" spaces. Parks and riverside promenades became stages for projecting a certain social order, carefully curated experiences of nature that obscured labor and inequality. Even the act of painting "en plein air" was a privilege afforded to a specific class. Where is labor represented here? The rowers may be laborers, perhaps rowing instructors, but that is muted too. Editor: It reframes the whole painting. I had been so focused on the light and color, I missed the underlying commentary. Curator: It's a constant process of looking and questioning, and resisting any "natural" reading of such idyllic moments. Editor: That makes me think differently about Impressionism altogether. Thanks!