A SUNLIT HOUSE · EMILE CLAUS ] He is a man who avoids crowds and the distracting clamour of humanity, loving to work in such dead cities as Bruges, or the peaceful countryside in the neighbourhood of Beauvais. No modern artist has better expressed on canvas the words of the great Millet. “When you paint a picture, whether the subject be a house, a plain, the ocean, or the sky, remember always the presence of man. Think how his joys and sorrows have been intermixed in these landscapes. An inner voice speaks of his inquietude and turmoils. Humanity’s whole existence is conjured up. In painting a landscape think of man.” Le Sidaner has many affinities to Pointelin, Carrière, and Whistler. They each have sought harmonies of line and colour, and though distinct in personality and unlike in methods, they have produced wonderfully similar effects. One of the most impressive of Le Sidaner’s works is _La Table_ in the Luxembourg. Here is the unmistakable Impressionist technique. In the courtyard of a country house is spread a table, white with napery, upon which stands a glowing opalescent lamp. A calm summer moon diffuses a gentle light over the whole scene. No human figures disturb the peaceful atmosphere, yet the sentiment of their presence pervades the place. The painting is a little masterpiece of its kind. The first canvas exhibited at the Champs-Élysées in 1887 was entitled _After Church_. Since that time he has exhibited year after year, the subjects of his pictures being well explained by their French titles: _La Promenade des Orphelines_, _Communion in Extremis_, _Benediction de la Mer_ (1891), _Jeune fille Hollandaise_ (1892), _L’autel des Orphelines_ (1893), _Départ de Tobie_ (1894), _Les Promis_, and _Les Vieilles_ (1895). In 1900 he exhibited a notable collection of pictures of Bruges. Le Sidaner paints a world of dreams. No better description of his work can be found than in the words of Moore: One of those passing rainbow dreams, Half light, half shade, which fancy’s beams Paint on the fleeting mists that roll, In trance or slumber, round the soul.