The Etretat Cliffs after the Storm
1870
Gustave Courbet captures the raw, rugged beauty of the Normandy coast in this dramatic seascape, where massive white chalk cliffs featuring a distinctive natural arch loom over a pebbly beach. Fishing boats rest in the foreground, looking battered and beached after the storm referenced in the title. As the father of Realism, Courbet championed depicting the world exactly as he saw it, stripping away romantic fluff to show nature's true power. He was so obsessed with these specific cliffs at Étretat that he painted them multiple times, even while political turmoil brewed across France in 1870!
- Technique
- Oil painting
- Material
- Canvas
Location: Musée d'Orsay, Paris
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