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Four boats with low masts sit on a sandy beach next to rocky cliffs under a cloud-filled sky in this horizontal landscape painting. Three of the boats are clustered together near the center of the composition. The fourth is a short distance away to our left. The beach is painted with visible dabs and strokes of tan and cream white with gray shadows. The vertical cliffs are not much taller than the boats' masts and are painted in with smears and smudges of warm brown and black. The beach is dark with shoals where it meets the water beyond the boats. Two sailboats with white sails are on the water in the distance. Bands of parchment white, gray, and smoky lavender purple gather in the icy blue sky above the horizon, which comes about a quarter of the way up the composition. The artist signed the work in rust-red letters in the lower right corner, “G. Courbet.”

Gustave Courbet

Boats on a Beach, Etretat, c. 1872/1875

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 64.8 x 91.4 cm (25 1/2 x 36 in.)

framed: 99.1 x 125.1 x 11.4 cm (39 x 49 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman

Accession Number

1972.9.7

Artists / Makers

Gustave Courbet (artist) French, 1819 - 1877

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

lower right: G. Courbet

Provenance

Private collection, London. (Rosenberg & Helft Galleries, London), by 1938.[1] (Paul Rosenberg and Co., New York), by 1943;[2] sold 10 June 1946 to Marie N. Harriman [1903-1970] and W. Averell Harriman [1891-1986], New York;[3] The W. Averell Harriman Foundation, New York; gift 1972 to NGA.

[1] Exhibited by Rosenberg & Helft Galleries in 1938 in London.

[2] Exhibited and offered for sale by Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York, in 1943.

[3] According to Harriman collection records in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Harriman Foundation, W. Averell
Marie Harriman Gallery
Private Collection (NGA Former Owner)
Rosenberg & Co., Paul P.
Rosenberg & Helft Galleries

Exhibition History

1938: Exposition Courbet, Rosenberg & Helft Galleries, London, 1938, no. 16, repro., as Bateaux devant la falaise

1938: London, La Flèche d'Or, 1938

1938: Ten French Painters of the 19th Century, Rosenberg & Helft Galleries, London, 1938, no. 7, as Bateaux devant la falaise

1943: Exhibition of French Painting of the Nineteenth Century and French and American Painting of the Twentieth Century, Paul Rosenberg and Co., New York, 1943, no. 2

1954: Benefit for the North Shore Hospital, Country Art Gallery, Westbury, Long Island, 1954, unnumbered checklist.

1956: Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Gustave Courbet, Paul Rosenberg and Co., New York, 1956, no. 11, repro.

1959: Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionist Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1961: Exhibition of the Marie and Averell Harriman Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1961, unnumbered catalogue, repro. 10

1961: Treasures in America, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1961, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1966: Romantics and Realists, Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1966, no. 20, repro.

1976: Loan for display with permanent collection, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christie, 1976-1979.

1989: Impressionisti della National Gallery of Art di Washington, Ala Napoleonica e Museo Correr, Venice; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1990: Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990, no. 15, repro.

1992: From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metroplitan Museum of Art, New York, National Gallery of Greece, Athens, 1992-1993, no. 41, repro.

1999: Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

1999: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 7, repro.

2019: Yan Pei-Ming face à Courbet, Musée départemental Gustave Courbet, Ornans, 2019, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1959: National Gallery of Art. Masterpieces of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Painting. Exh. Cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1959: 10, repro.

1966: "Romantics and Realists." Arts Magazine 40, no. 7 (May 1966): 26, repro.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 84, repro.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 449, no. 655, color repro.

1978: Fernier, Robert. La Vie et l'oeuvre de Gustave Courbet, catalogue raisonné. Peintures, 1866-1877, dessins, sculptures. Paris, 1978: 94, no. 716.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 445, no. 643, color repro.

1985: Courthion, Pierre. L'opera completa di Courbet. Milan, 1985: no. 688, repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 103, repro.

2000: Eitner, Lorenz. French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: Before Impressionism. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 138-141, color repro.