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    Open today 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
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    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Only have an hour to spend?

    We've got you covered.

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    Featured exhibition:

    The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art

    Opening soon

  • Art & Artists

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    • Artists
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    • Games and Interactives
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    Artle

    A refreshed experience for our puzzle game

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    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Only have an hour to spend?

    We've got you covered.

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    Featured exhibition:

    The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art

    Opening soon

  • Art & Artists

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    • Games and Interactives
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    Artle

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    Four boats with low masts sit on a sandy beach next to rocky cliffs under a cloud-filled sky in this horizontal landscape painting. Three of the boats are clustered together near the center of the composition. The fourth is a short distance away to our left. The beach is painted with visible dabs and strokes of tan and cream white with gray shadows. The vertical cliffs are not much taller than the boats' masts and are painted in with smears and smudges of warm brown and black. The beach is dark with shoals where it meets the water beyond the boats. Two sailboats with white sails are on the water in the distance. Bands of parchment white, gray, and smoky lavender purple gather in the icy blue sky above the horizon, which comes about a quarter of the way up the composition. The artist signed the work in rust-red letters in the lower right corner, “G. Courbet.”
    Gustave Courbet, Boats on a Beach, Etretat, c. 1872/1875, oil on canvas, Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman, 1972.9.7

    Boats on a Beach, Etretat

    Boats on a Beach, Etretat

    Gustave Courbet · c. 1872/1875 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1972.9.7

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