Mer orageuse gustave courbet biography

After the fall of the Commune, was in prison by a court judgement, six months in prison; later he was sentenced to increase of expenses on restoration of the destroyed them column. This forced him to retire in Switzerland, where he died in poverty in Find out more about what data we collect and use at here. Nothing found. All search results.

Enter keywords. Quick search helps finding an artist, picture, user or article and prompts your previous searches. Enter site. Museums and galleries. Products and prices. Subscribe About the artist. Read more. On the other hand, Courbet's interpretation has nothing to do with the images of the sea by established, conventional artists as discussed by Emile Zola in a Salon review: "Do not expect a symbolic work in the manner of Cabanel or Baudry - some nude woman, with skin as pearly as a shell, who bathes in a sea of agate.

Courbet has simply painted a wave" E. Hemmings and R. Niess, Geneva,p. In the present painting, Courbet has perfectly captured the power and motion of a swelling wave and the agitation of sea water as it splashes on the shore. The sea is choppy and filled with whitecaps visible as far off as the horizon.

Mer orageuse gustave courbet biography

This painting reveals Courbet's masterful command of the painted surface, where he has brilliantly evoked the deep blue-green of a wave as it metamorphosizes into frothy white foam. Here, the artist offers an intense vision of the stormy sea, tormented and disturbing, with all the savage power of natural forces at work. Applying thick paint with a kitchen knife, Courbet succeeded in conveying an impression of eternity.

He composed his picture in three horizontal bands: the shore, where two fishing boats lie, the waves, painted in a range of dark greens highlighted with the white of the foam, and the lowering sky. In Gil Blas on 28th SeptemberGuy de Maupassant recounts a visit he made to Courbet during his stay at Etretat: "In a huge, empty room, a fat, dirty, greasy man was slapping white paint on a blank canvas with a kitchen knife.

From time to time he would press his face against the window and look out at the storm. The sea came so close that it seemed to batter the house and completely envelope it in its foam and roar. The salty water beat against the windowpanes like hail, and ran down the walls. On his mantelpiece was a bottle of cider next to a half-filled glass.

Now and then, Courbet would take a few swigs, and then return to his work. This work became The Waveand caused quite a sensation around the world". In addition to wooded nature and large groves, throughout his production he favoured the representation of water, in serene mirrors, flowing rivers and gentle or rough seas, motifs that found an interested clientele.

His tours along the Normandy coast of Franceon the edge of the English Channel, were frequent, with periodic visits to Le HavreHonfleurTrouville and Deauvilleplaces that also appear in paintings by other artists of the Barbizon school who, like him, pursued sensitive observation of nature and reacted against the modernisation of large cities.

At that time, the place had a casino, manor houses, shops and small hotels frequented by a bourgeoisie with free time to rest or to cure their ailments during the summer period. Many of them were struck by the particularity of the landscape, an extensive coastline of vertical, abrupt and steep cliffs of white alabaster, with a particular profile: natural arches and caves eroded by water, inside which nest albatrosses, gulls and other marine species.