A sheet feeding apparatus, comprising: a sheet stacking portion (52a-c) on which sheets (S, Sa) are stacked; a pickup roller (53a-c) that feeds an uppermost one of the sheets (S, Sa) stacked on the sheet stacking portion (52a-c); a feed roller (54a-c) that feeds the sheet conveyed by the pickup roller (53a-c); a retard roller (55a-c) that is pressed against the feed roller (54a-c) and that receives a driving force in a direction opposite to a feeding direction through a torque limiter; a pair of sheet conveying rollers (56a-c), provided at a downstream of the feed roller (54a-c) and the retard roller (55a-c), that conveys the sheet fed by the feed roller (54a-c) and the retard roller (55a-c); a clutch (101, 103; 130) that transmits a driving force to the feed roller (54a-c) and stops a transmission of the driving force to the feed roller (54a-c); and a control unit, characterized in that while the sheet feeding apparatus feeds the sheet successively, when the control unit controls the clutch (101, 103; 130) so as to stop the transmission of the driving force to the feed roller (54a-c) after the sheet fed by the feed roller (54a-c) is reached to the pair of conveying rollers (56a-c), the pickup roller (53a-c) is rotated in the feeding direction to feed a sheet on the sheet stacking portion (52a-c) by a transmitting of a rotation of the retard roller (55a-c) that is rotated in the feeding direction by a movement of the sheet conveyed by the pair of conveying rollers (56a-c), and does not feed the sheet on the sheet stacking portion (52a-c) when the retard roller (55a-c) is rotating in the direction opposite to the feeding direction or is stationary. a sheet stacking portion (52a-c) on which sheets (S, Sa) are stacked; a pickup roller (53a-c) that feeds an uppermost one of the sheets (S, Sa) stacked on the sheet stacking portion (52a-c); a feed roller (54a-c) that feeds the sheet conveyed by the pickup roller (53a-c); a retard roller (55a-c) that is pressed against the feed roller (54a-c) and that receives a driving force in a direction opposite to a feeding direction through a torque limiter; a pair of sheet conveying rollers (56a-c), provided at a downstream of the feed roller (54a-c) and the retard roller (55a-c), that conveys the sheet fed by the feed roller (54a-c) and the retard roller (55a-c); a clutch (101, 103; 130) that transmits a driving force to the feed roller (54a-c) and stops a transmission of the driving force to the feed roller (54a-c); and a control unit, characterized in that while the sheet feeding apparatus feeds the sheet successively, when the control unit controls the clutch (101, 103; 130) so as to stop the transmission of the driving force to the feed roller (54a-c) after the sheet fed by the feed roller (54a-c) is reached to the pair of conveying rollers (56a-c), the pickup roller (53a-c) is rotated in the feeding direction to feed a sheet on the sheet stacking portion (52a-c) by a transmitting of a rotation of the retard roller (55a-c) that is rotated in the feeding direction by a movement of the sheet conveyed by the pair of conveying rollers (56a-c), and does not feed the sheet on the sheet stacking portion (52a-c) when the retard roller (55a-c) is rotating in the direction opposite to the feeding direction or is stationary.