Room 152

Gustave Courbet

1819–1877, France (Ornans, Paris), Realism

Courbet wanted to paint only what he could see with his own eyes – no angels, no gods. With this claim he became the spokesman of Realism. He painted peasants, stone breakers and the landscape of his native Jura: rocks, caves and streams in dark, earthy colours, often applied with a palette knife. Later he was drawn to the Normandy coast, where waves and sky became his great themes.

All works