Courbet, Gustave (1819-1877)
Paysage près d’Ornans (Landscape Near Ornans)
1864
Oil on canvas, 88.8 x 127.2 cm
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo
“To paint a land you have to know it. I know my land and I paint it. That undergrowth—it comes from our land. That river—it’s the Loue…Those rocks, those are in Ornans…Go look, you’ll recognize all my paintings.” —Gustave Courbet
Gustave Courbet painted the jagged rock formations and rugged ravines around Ornans, France, with a drama befitting the terrain. Quick flicks of the brush created the foliage of the trees and shrubs, but he used a palette knife to sculpt the stark limestone cliffs with thick white paint. Ornans, not far from the Swiss border, was Courbet’s native town, and he wandered through its surrounding lush valleys with his easel and paints, creating compelling images of nature. In contrast to his softer (though no less vibrant) painting The Trellis, also in the Museum’s collection, Courbet’s Landscape Near Ornans seems elemental in its forcefulness.(TMA)