Calm Sea

1866

Gustave Courbet

Artist, French, 1819 - 1877

A narrow strip of beach and then a vivid turquoise stretch of water give way to a towering, hazy sky in this square landscape painting. The beach is painted with strokes of tan and peachy brown and skimmed with dark brown or black to create the impression of rocks or shells. The water extends to the horizon, which comes a quarter of the way up this composition, in shades of topaz and powder blue. Piles of fluffy clouds above are painted with loose strokes of cotton and gossamer white, creating a soft, blurred look. The artist signed and dated the canvas in the lower left corner with red paint, “’66 Gustave Courbet.”

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 92

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 54.1 x 63.9 cm (21 5/16 x 25 3/16 in.)
    framed: 69.9 x 80.3 x 5.1 cm (27 1/2 x 31 5/8 x 2 in.)

  • Accession

    1985.64.10

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Private collection, France. (Galerie Nathan, Zurich), by 1962;[1] sold May 1965 to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1985 to NGA.
[1] Lent by Fritz and Peter Nathan to an exhibition in Bern in 1962. A letter dated 26 April 1999 from the Galerie Nathan, in NGA curatorial files, indicates that they have no additional documentation on the picture.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1962

  • Gustave Courbet, Kunstmuseum, Berne, 1962, no. 46, repro.

1966

  • French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, 1966, no. 6, repro.

1973

  • French Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1973-1978, unnumbered checklist

1979

  • 19th and 20th Century French Painting from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1979 (long term exhibition), checklist no. 20

1989

  • Impressionisti della National Gallery of Art di Washington, Ala Napoleonica e Museo Correr, Venice; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1990

  • Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990, no. 14, repro.

2007

  • Impressionists by the Sea, Royal Academy of Arts, London; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, 2007-2008, no. 20, repro.

2022

  • The Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2022, pl. 51.

Bibliography

1966

  • Tippetts, Marie-Antoinette. Les Marines des peintres vues par les littérateurs de Diderot aux Goncourt. Paris, 1966: 172 note 5.

1978

  • Fernier, Robert. La Vie et l'oeuvre de Gustave Courbet, catalogue raisonné. Peintures, 1866-1877, dessins, sculptures. Paris, 1978: 36, no. 591, repro.

1985

  • Courthion, Pierre. L'opera completa di Courbet. Milan, 1985: no. 538, repro.

1991

  • Coman, Florence E. Joie de Vivre: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1991: no. 4, repro.

2000

  • Eitner, Lorenz. French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: Before Impressionism. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 133-138, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: '66 / Gustave Courbet

Wikidata ID

Q20188676

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