1872-73／Oil on canvas
53.6 x 72.4 cm
400 Years of Western Paintings – Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum –
Exhibition period：Saturday April 12～Sunday June 8, 2025
Nagoya City Art Museum (Aichi, Japan)
SUMMARY
Gustave Courbet intensively created most of his seascapes in a period of nine years from 1865 to 1873. During this period, the painter traveled to the beautiful Normandy coast facing the English Channel to paint the sceneries, like a series of paintings, including calm sea, raging sea, boats on the beach, and the cliffs of Étretat which is known for the peculiar landscape of precipices protruded into the sea. Especially during his stay in Étretat in 1869, he created the most number of the seascapes, of which more than 50 pieces are confirmed even only in his catalogue raisonné. Courbet lost both the French parliamentary election and the Paris municipal election in 1871. Subsequently, he was put in the prison of Sainte-Pélagie at the time of the Commune de Paris, but underwent surgery due to illness. Until his exile to Switzerland in 1873, Courbet spent some time in his native town Ornans, but his health condition stayed poor. During such a difficult time, an ideal motif in painting for Courbet was the rough stormy sea surging forward with great force that he had seen in Normandy. According to a friend’s letter to Courbet, it is speculated that this work is a piece from a series of the seascapes that Courbet created between 1872 and 1873, when he stayed in Ornans. A local town near the Swiss border, Ornans had no connections with the sea at all, but the intensive executions of the paintings in Étretat in 1869 might have helped Courbet to recreate seascapes for the subsequent several years. A mass of surge with full of movement was a Courbet’s favorite subject matter. Richly conveying a massive feeling, he depicts the power of nature hidden within the waves using a palette knife. Along with his renowned “deer” series, this “wave” series can be considered as a synonym for Courbet’s painting.
ARTIST
Gustave Courbet
1819-1877
List of artworks by the same artist
INFORMATION
Saturday, April 12 - Sunday, June 8, 2025
400 Years of Western Paintings – Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum – Nagoya City Art Museum (Aichi, Japan)
Friday, July 26 - Monday, September 23, 2024
400 Years of Western Paintings – Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum – Shizuoka City Museum of Art (Shizuoka, Japan)
Friday, July 28 - Sunday, August 27, 2023
Masterpieces of Modern Eastern and Western Painting Exhibition Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art (Ishikawa, Japan)
Saturday, September 17 - Sunday, November 20, 2022
400 Years of Western Paintings – Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum – Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design (Toyama, Japan)
Saturday, July 16 - Sunday, September 4, 2022
Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art (Kumamoto, Japan)
Saturday, March 19 - Sunday, May 8, 2022
Masterpieces of European Paintings From Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection Saga Prefectural Art Museum (Saga, Japan)
Saturday, October 23 - Sunday, December 26, 2021
The 400 Years of Western Painting: Masterpieces From Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts (Tochigi, Japan)
Friday, July 9 - Sunday, August 29, 2021
400 Years of European Paintings: Masterpieces From Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art (Okayama, Japan)
Saturday, April 10 - Sunday, June 13, 2021
Courbet and the Sea: Eyes on Nature in the 19th Century Shiodome Museum (Tokyo, Japan)
Tuesday, December 15 - Sunday, January 31, 2021
How to Read Western Paintings: Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum (Okinawa, Japan)
Saturday, September 12 - Tuesday, November 3, 2020
400 Years of Western Paintings: Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum (Miyazaki, Japan)
Wednesday, July 22 - Sunday, September 6, 2020
400 Years of Western Paintings: Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Oita Prefectural Art Museum (Oita, Japan)
Thursday, February 20 - Sunday, April 12, 2020
How to Read Western Paintings: Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki (Ibaraki, Japan)
Saturday, November 2 - Sunday, December 22, 2019
“Rendez-vous” through Arts―East Meets West― Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts, Izumi (Osaka, Japan)
Tuesday, September 3 - Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Masterpieces of European Paintings From Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum (Yamaguchi, Japan)
Saturday, January 12 - Saturday, May 4, 2019
500 Years of Western Paintings: Collection of Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Shanghai PowerLong Museum (Shanghai, China)
Tuesday, October 23 - Sunday, December 23, 2018
500 Years of Western Paintings: Collection of Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Tsinghua University Art Museum (Beijing, China)
Saturday, April 29 - Sunday, June 25, 2017
The Collection of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum: East and West Encounters Niihama City Museum of Art (Ehime, Japan)
Saturday, July 9 - Sunday, August 28, 2016
300 years of Western Painting from Baroque, Rococo to École de Paris Nagano Prefectural Shinano Art Museum (Nagano, Japan)
Saturday, June 27 - Sunday, August 30, 2015
Feast of beauty: 300 years of Western Painting From Baroque, Rococo to Ecole de Paris Yawatahama Citizen Gallery (Ehime, Japan)
Wednesday, April 29 - Sunday, June 21, 2015
Feast of beauty: 300 years of Western Painting From Baroque, Rococo to Ecole de Paris The Tokushima Modern Art Museum (Tokushima, Japan)
Tuesday, March 11 - Sunday, May 11, 2014
Impressionists at the Waterside—Depicting Urban Resorts: Paris, the Seine, and Normandy The Museum of Kyoto (Kyoto, Japan)
Wednesday, January 15 - Sunday, March 2, 2014
Impressionists at the Waterside—Depicting Urban Resorts: Paris, the Seine, and Normandy Fukuoka City Museum (Fukuoka, Japan)
Saturday, October 24 - Sunday, December 20, 2009
The Intersection of Paintings and Photographs Nagoya City Art Museum (Aichi, Japan)
Saturday, August 1 - Sunday, September 27, 2009
The Intersection of Paintings and Photographs Matsumoto City Museum of Art (Nagano, Japan)
Saturday, June 6 - Monday, July 20, 2009
The Intersection of Paintings and Photographs Hiroshima Museum of Art (Hiroshima, Japan)
Saturday, April 4 - Sunday, May 24, 2009
The Intersection of Paintings and Photographs Sapporo Art Museum (Hokkaido, Japan)
Friday, January 30 - Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Intersection of Paintings and Photographs Hokkaido Obihiro Museum of Art (Hokkaido, Japan)
Saturday, July 14 - Sunday, November 25, 2007
Impressionists and Its Sources: Monet, Renoir, and Barbizon Masters Musee d'art Mercian KARUIZAWA (Nagano, Japan)
Friday, April 22 - Sunday, May 29, 2005
Impressionists and Great Masters of Western Paintings Yatsushiro Municipal Museum (Kumamoto, Japan)
Friday, August 1 - Sunday, August 31, 2003
A Great Masters of Impressionist and Modern Arts Iwate Prefectural Hall (Iwate, Japan)
Friday, April 18 - Sunday, May 25, 2003
The Great Masters of Art Fukuoka Art Museum (Fukuoka, Japan)
Friday, November 8 - Sunday, November 24, 2002
Great Masters of Modern Paintings Nagasaki Prefectural Museum (Nagasaki, Japan)
Saturday, October 5 - Monday, November 4, 2002
Art of the West & Art of Japan Exhibition: Monet, Renoir, Cezanne… Ikeno Taiga, Tani Buncho, and Others Shimane Art Museum (Shimane, Japan)
Saturday, September 7 - Sunday, September 29, 2002
Four Centuries of Occidental Paintings from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection SOGO Museum of Art (Kanagawa, Japan)
Saturday, July 20 - Sunday, September 1, 2002
The Great Masters of Art Hida Takayama Museum of Art (Gifu, Japan)
Friday, June 7 - Sunday, June 23, 2002
Modern Western Oils and Engravings from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection Fukui City Art Museum (Fukui, Japan)
Saturday, May 11 - Sunday, June 2, 2002
Modern Western Painting Kagoshima Prefectural Museum of Culture Reimeikan (Kagoshima, Japan)
Saturday, April 13 - Monday, May 6, 2002
Modern Western Oils and Engravings from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection The Urasoe Art Museum (Okinawa, Japan)
Sunday, October 1 - Sunday, December 3, 2000
Masterpieces of Western Paintings from the Renaissance to the 20th Century National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (Taipei, Taiwan)
Tuesday, October 14 - Sunday, November 30, 1997
Masterpieces of Western Oil Painting from the TFAM Collection Hong Kong Museum of Art (Hong Kong, China)
Saturday, June 14 - Monday, July 7, 1997
400 Years of Art in the East and West—From the Collection of Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art (Ishikawa, Japan)
Friday, October 16 - Thursday, November 5, 1992
Masterpieces of European Oil Painting: The Paintings in 20th Century from the Renaissance to Impressionism China Art Gallery (Beijing, China)
Saturday, November 3 - Sunday, December 2, 1990
Masterpieces of European Oil Painting Ho-Am Art Museum (Yongin-gun, Kyunggi-do, South Korea)
Saturday, September 22 - Sunday, October 21, 1990
Masterpieces of European Oil Painting Ho-Am Gallery (Seoul, South Korea)
Provenance: Collection de M.Mazaroz et Ribalier, acquired from the artist (sale, Paris Hôtel Drouot, May 13-14, 1890,lot 15, sold for FF980) Galerie Robert Schmit, Paris Hirshl &Adler Galleries, New York James C. Brady ,New York, 1965 Acquired by the present owner in1969 Exhibited: New York, Hirshl & Adler Galleries, Selections from the Collection of Hirshl & Adler Galleries, 1964-1965, no.55, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue New York, Hirshl & Adler Galleries, Retrospective of a Gallery ; Twenty Years, 1973, no.28, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue
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