The Road from Gennevilliers, Alfred Sisley 1872

The Road from Gennevilliers, Alfred Sisley 1872

This is the view from the same viewpoint in 2016.

St Denis side of the bridge at Villeneuve-La-Garenne

Sisley seemed to have painted this in a hurry. The buildings on the left of the bridge were not accurately painted. For example, the building we can see between the furthest tree and the end of the bridge is four windows wide in the painting, but photographs of that building show that it was three windows wide. This can be seen in the following postcard.

Villeneuve-La-Garenne suspension bridge c1900

The hut on the left of Sisley's painting can be seen in the postcard below. The man standing on the left pavement under the tree is probably on the spot where Sisley set up his easel.

Rue Mechin, L'Île-Saint-Denis c1910

Rue Mechin, L'Île-Saint-Denis 2016

The hut is gone but the buildings on the left look the same. In fact, judging from the photo below they seem to have benefited from far less "progress" on this side of the bridge. The green area on the right of the 1970s photo has been replaced by a large block of flats, but many of the old houses leading up to the bridge are still there.

L'Île-Saint-Denis looking towards Villeneuve-la-Garenne 1970s