A major influence of realism, leading to Naturalism, and on Impressionism, Courbet was one of those who paved the way for modern art.
Impressionism
Becoming involved in the Commune after the Franco-Prussian War, he ended up in prison, finally painting in exile in Switzerland.
The other side of his work in the 1860s: chasing the ‘source’ of rivers near Ornans, serried ranks of waves on the coast, and the help of Corot.
Born 200 years ago today, it was Jongkind who surely led the movement to Impressionism, with his loose and sketchy style.
Met and painted with Sisley, Boudin, and the young Claude Monet, but so poor that other artists auctioned their works to relieve his poverty.
Friend, pupil and colleague of Paul Gauguin, he painted avidly in Brittany around 1890, then suddenly left and all but vanished, as have his paintings.
Four years of landscapes, becoming increasingly painterly. Early views of major Impressionist themes around Paris and the coast at Étretat, over a decade before Monet.
From groups in the countryside, he turned his attention to scandalous women bathing in the woods, then a series of superb landscapes.
One of the precursors to Impressionism and Naturalism, this is the first of a series looking at his career and paintings prior to his bicentenary in June. Covers the 1840s.
In his later career, he won a succession of awards for loosely-painted Impressionist views.
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