Four Geese by the River

Four Geese by the River

Alfred Sisley

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the 1880s and 90s, Sisley increasingly employed the medium of pastel. With minimal detail, this example emphasizes the horizontal bands of striated color, alternating blue and green, between the sky, the river, and the land on either side. Against this background, stand the four geese, a motif that the artist returned to repeatedly during his late career.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Four Geese by the RiverFour Geese by the RiverFour Geese by the RiverFour Geese by the RiverFour Geese by the River

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.