The Calm Sea
1869
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
23 1/2 x 28 3/4 in. (59.7 x 73 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number
29.100.566
Tags
About this artwork
This seascape depicts a tranquil view of the English Channel at low tide, painted by Gustave Courbet in 1869 during a visit to Étretat along the Normandy coast. The composition shows two small boats left on the shore as the ocean has receded, with an immense sky towering over narrow bands of water and sand. The painting presents an unusually tranquil scene for Courbet's marine paintings of this period, which were typically dominated by dramatically crashing waves. Courbet painted this view in Au...
About the Artist
Gustave Courbet · 1819–1877
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was a French painter who revolutionized 19th-century art as the founding figure of the Realism movement. Born in Ornans, a small town in the Doubs region of France, Courbet came from a prosperous farming family with anti-monarchical roots—his maternal grandfather had participated in the French Revolution. This background shaped his lifelong commitment to dep...