Tres árboles
1853
Gustave Courbet, the father of Realism, usually painted gritty rural scenes with heavy oils, but here he captures nature with a light, scribbly touch. Three slender tree trunks rise up, their foliage rendered in loose loops that suggest the wind rustling through the leaves. If you squint at the very top, a ghostly church steeple emerges, anchoring this wild growth to a nearby village. The number '53' in the corner likely dates this quick study to 1853, a snapshot of the French countryside before it became a finished masterpiece.
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