Calm Sea
1866
Medium
oil on canvas
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.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CF
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Accession Number
1985.64.10
Art Historical Context
**Calm Sea** (1866) by Gustave Courbet invites visitors into a serene marine vista, rendered in oil on canvas at an intimate scale of 54.1 x 63.9 cm. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's collection, generously gifted by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, this painting exemplifies Courbet's mastery of landscape during his mature career. As a pioneer of Realism, Courbet rejected the dramatic fantasies of Romanticism, instead capturing nature's unvarnished truth with bold, direct observation. Painted amid the vibrant cultural shifts of mid-19th-century France under Napoleon III, *Calm Sea* reflects Co...
About the Artist
Gustave Courbet · 1819–1877
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was a French painter who revolutionized 19th-century art as the founding figure of the Realism movement. Born in Ornans, a small town in the Doubs region of France, Courbet came from a prosperous farming family with anti-monarchical roots—his maternal grandfather had participated in the French Revolution. This background shaped his lifelong commitment to dep...