1872-73／Oil on canvas
53.6 x 72.4 cm
04 12, 2025 （SAT）～06 08, 2025 （SUN）
400 Years of Western Paintings – Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum –
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
4 12, 2025 （Sat.）～6 8 （Sun.）
400 Years of Western Paintings – Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum – Nagoya City Art Museum (Aichi, Japan)
7 26, 2024 （Fri.）～9 23 （Mon.）
400 Years of Western Paintings – Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum – Shizuoka City Museum of Art (Shizuoka, Japan)
7 28, 2023 （Fri.）～8 27 （Sun.）
Masterpieces of Modern Eastern and Western Painting Exhibition Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art (Ishikawa, Japan)
9 17, 2022 （Sat.）～11 20 （Sun.）
400 Years of Western Paintings – Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum – Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design (Toyama, Japan)
7 16, 2022 （Sat.）～9 4 （Sun.）
Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art (Kumamoto, Japan)
3 19, 2022 （Sat.）～5 8 （Sun.）
Masterpieces of European Paintings From Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection Saga Prefectural Art Museum (Saga, Japan)
10 23, 2021 （Sat.）～12 26 （Sun.）
The 400 Years of Western Painting: Masterpieces From Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts (Tochigi, Japan)
7 9, 2021 （Fri.）～8 29 （Sun.）
400 Years of European Paintings: Masterpieces From Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art (Okayama, Japan)
4 10, 2021 （Sat.）～6 13 （Sun.）
Courbet and the Sea: Eyes on Nature in the 19th Century Shiodome Museum (Tokyo, Japan)
12 15, 2020 （Tue.）～1 31 （Sun.）
How to Read Western Paintings: Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum (Okinawa, Japan)
9 12, 2020 （Sat.）～11 3 （Tue.）
400 Years of Western Paintings: Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum (Miyazaki, Japan)
7 22, 2020 （Wed.）～9 6 （Sun.）
400 Years of Western Paintings: Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Oita Prefectural Art Museum (Oita, Japan)
2 20, 2020 （Thu.）～4 12 （Sun.）
How to Read Western Paintings: Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki (Ibaraki, Japan)
11 2, 2019 （Sat.）～12 22 （Sun.）
“Rendez-vous” through Arts―East Meets West― Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts, Izumi (Osaka, Japan)
9 3, 2019 （Tue.）～10 22 （Tue.）
Masterpieces of European Paintings From Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum (Yamaguchi, Japan)
1 12, 2019 （Sat.）～5 4 （Sat.）
500 Years of Western Paintings: Collection of Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Shanghai PowerLong Museum (Shanghai, China)
10 23, 2018 （Tue.）～12 23 （Sun.）
500 Years of Western Paintings: Collection of Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Tsinghua University Art Museum (Beijing, China)
4 29, 2017 （Sat.）～6 25 （Sun.）
The Collection of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum: East and West Encounters Niihama City Museum of Art (Ehime, Japan)
7 9, 2016 （Sat.）～8 28 （Sun.）
300 years of Western Painting from Baroque, Rococo to École de Paris Nagano Prefectural Shinano Art Museum (Nagano, Japan)
6 27, 2015 （Sat.）～8 30 （Sun.）
Feast of beauty: 300 years of Western Painting From Baroque, Rococo to Ecole de Paris Yawatahama Citizen Gallery (Ehime, Japan)
4 29, 2015 （Wed.）～6 21 （Sun.）
Feast of beauty: 300 years of Western Painting From Baroque, Rococo to Ecole de Paris The Tokushima Modern Art Museum (Tokushima, Japan)
3 11, 2014 （Tue.）～5 11 （Sun.）
Impressionists at the Waterside—Depicting Urban Resorts: Paris, the Seine, and Normandy The Museum of Kyoto (Kyoto, Japan)
1 15, 2014 （Wed.）～3 2 （Sun.）
Impressionists at the Waterside—Depicting Urban Resorts: Paris, the Seine, and Normandy Fukuoka City Museum (Fukuoka, Japan)
10 24, 2009 （Sat.）～12 20 （Sun.）
The Intersection of Paintings and Photographs Nagoya City Art Museum (Aichi, Japan)
8 1, 2009 （Sat.）～9 27 （Sun.）
The Intersection of Paintings and Photographs Matsumoto City Museum of Art (Nagano, Japan)
6 6, 2009 （Sat.）～7 20 （Mon.）
The Intersection of Paintings and Photographs Hiroshima Museum of Art (Hiroshima, Japan)
4 4, 2009 （Sat.）～5 24 （Sun.）
The Intersection of Paintings and Photographs Sapporo Art Museum (Hokkaido, Japan)
1 30, 2009 （Fri.）～3 25 （Wed.）
The Intersection of Paintings and Photographs Hokkaido Obihiro Museum of Art (Hokkaido, Japan)
7 14, 2007 （Sat.）～11 25 （Sun.）
Impressionists and Its Sources: Monet, Renoir, and Barbizon Masters Musee d'art Mercian KARUIZAWA (Nagano, Japan)
4 22, 2005 （Fri.）～5 29 （Sun.）
Impressionists and Great Masters of Western Paintings Yatsushiro Municipal Museum (Kumamoto, Japan)
8 1, 2003 （Fri.）～8 31 （Sun.）
A Great Masters of Impressionist and Modern Arts Iwate Prefectural Hall (Iwate, Japan)
4 18, 2003 （Fri.）～5 25 （Sun.）
The Great Masters of Art Fukuoka Art Museum (Fukuoka, Japan)
11 8, 2002 （Fri.）～11 24 （Sun.）
Great Masters of Modern Paintings Nagasaki Prefectural Museum (Nagasaki, Japan)
10 5, 2002 （Sat.）～11 4 （Mon.）
Art of the West & Art of Japan Exhibition: Monet, Renoir, Cezanne… Ikeno Taiga, Tani Buncho, and Others Shimane Art Museum (Shimane, Japan)
9 7, 2002 （Sat.）～9 29 （Sun.）
Four Centuries of Occidental Paintings from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection SOGO Museum of Art (Kanagawa, Japan)
7 20, 2002 （Sat.）～9 1 （Sun.）
The Great Masters of Art Hida Takayama Museum of Art (Gifu, Japan)
6 7, 2002 （Fri.）～6 23 （Sun.）
Modern Western Oils and Engravings from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection Fukui City Art Museum (Fukui, Japan)
5 11, 2002 （Sat.）～6 2 （Sun.）
Modern Western Painting Kagoshima Prefectural Museum of Culture Reimeikan (Kagoshima, Japan)
4 13, 2002 （Sat.）～5 6 （Mon.）
Modern Western Oils and Engravings from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection The Urasoe Art Museum (Okinawa, Japan)
10 1, 2000 （Sun.）～12 3 （Sun.）
Masterpieces of Western Paintings from the Renaissance to the 20th Century National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (Taipei, Taiwan)
10 14, 1997 （Tue.）～11 30 （Sun.）
Masterpieces of Western Oil Painting from the TFAM Collection Hong Kong Museum of Art (Hong Kong, China)
6 14, 1997 （Sat.）～7 7 （Mon.）
400 Years of Art in the East and West—From the Collection of Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art (Ishikawa, Japan)
10 16, 1992 （Fri.）～11 5 （Thu.）
Masterpieces of European Oil Painting: The Paintings in 20th Century from the Renaissance to Impressionism China Art Gallery (Beijing, China)
11 3, 1990 （Sat.）～12 2 （Sun.）
Masterpieces of European Oil Painting Ho-Am Art Museum (Yongin-gun, Kyunggi-do, South Korea)
9 22, 1990 （Sat.）～10 21 （Sun.）
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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