I like all those painters who loved and had a strong feeling for

Hear the words of Alfred Sisley, painter of skies and rivers, who declared: “I like all those painters who loved and had a strong feeling for nature.” This simple utterance carries with it the quiet power of an artist who lived not for spectacle nor for fame, but for truth as it appears in light, in shadow, and in the eternal face of the earth. Sisley speaks of love and of feeling, not of theory nor of rigid form, for to him the heart of painting was not technique alone but the trembling bond between the soul of man and the spirit of nature.

The meaning of his words is this: that true art is born not from calculation, but from reverence. A painter may learn to measure perspective, to mix pigments, to master form; yet if he does not feel the living breath of nature, his work is but an empty shell. Sisley, like his fellow Impressionists, believed that to paint the world was to become one with it, to listen to its whispers in wind and water, to translate the light of the sun into strokes of color. For him, the noblest artists were those who did not stand above the world but walked humbly within it, honoring its mystery with brush and canvas.

History bears witness to such souls. Think of Vincent van Gogh, who stood in fields ablaze with wheat and saw the sky not as pale blue, but as a living storm of fire and movement. Though tormented by sorrow, his love for nature poured from his hand in swirls and bursts that made the ordinary eternal. Or recall Claude Monet, whose lilies and rivers were not mere flowers or water, but fragments of eternity caught in light. These painters did not seek grandeur in kings or battles, but in the quiet majesty of a garden, a sunrise, a fleeting shadow. They understood, as Sisley did, that the divine speaks most clearly through nature.

Sisley himself was devoted to simplicity. While others chased fame or wealth, he remained faithful to the landscapes of the French countryside. He painted rivers, skies, and quiet streets not for glory but for love. His was the life of a man who gave himself wholly to his vision. And though he died in poverty, his legacy endures, for his canvases pulse with that same “strong feeling” he admired in others—the sense that to look upon nature is to look upon the eternal.

This teaching is more than art—it is a philosophy of life. To love nature is to be reminded of our place in the vast order of things. The river does not flow for us, nor the sun rise for our glory, yet they gift us their beauty freely. When we attune our hearts to this gift, when we cultivate a strong feeling for the living world, we too become artists—not only on canvas, but in the way we live, breathe, and walk upon the earth. To see the world as Sisley saw it is to be forever a student of wonder.

The lesson for us is profound: cultivate reverence for the earth, for without such reverence, all creation becomes dull and empty. Whether you paint, write, or simply walk among trees, let yourself feel deeply. Set aside distraction and ambition, and learn to look—truly look—at the light on leaves, at the curve of a hill, at the infinite dance of sky and cloud. This is the beginning of wisdom, for the one who loves nature will never be poor, never be empty, for he drinks daily from the well of beauty that never runs dry.

Practical steps may guide us: spend time outdoors not as a passerby, but as a participant; keep a journal or sketchbook to honor what you see; study the works of those painters who loved the natural world and learn from their gaze; plant, tend, and nurture life wherever you can. For in honoring nature, you awaken the artist within, whether or not you hold a brush.

Remember always: the greatest art is not invention, but communion. Sisley’s words echo like a gentle hymn: those who love nature, and who feel it strongly, create works that endure beyond their time. Let us, then, be such people—artists in spirit, lovers of earth, witnesses to the eternal beauty written in the fields, the rivers, and the skies.