The Calm Sea by Gustave Courbet

In Gustave Courbet's The Calm Sea (1869), the view of calm waters is seen from the coastline at Trouville. It demonstrates the fresh color quality and careful observation associated with plein air painting.

Picture of a seascape by Gustave Courbet, The Calm Sea.
Gustave Courbet's The Calm Sea is an oil on canvas
(23-1/2 x 28-3/8 inches) that is on display at
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

With his easel set up on the shore, Courbet was able to record the light and the moving clouds over the serene sea. The result is a work that evokes atmospheric sensation rather than detailed observation.

For more on Impressionist paintings, artists, and art history, see:


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Debra N. Mancoff, Ph.D., is an art historian and lecturer and the author of numerous books on nineteenth-century European and American paintings. She is a scholar in residence at the Newberry Library and an adjunct associate professor and adjunct lecturer at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.