Seascape
1870
Courbet was absolutely obsessed with the ocean, especially during his final years in exile in Switzerland where he painted over a hundred seascapes. He often worked on multiple canvases at once to capture the fleeting, violent energy of the waves, and you can feel that urgency here. Notice how the tiny sailboat looks completely at the mercy of those massive, churning dark green swells? He wanted to show nature's raw, untamed power without any romantic sugar-coating, sticking true to his Realist roots even when the subject was this dramatic.
- Technique
- Oil on canvas
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