Over spring break, I had the opportunity to visit an array of art museums throughout the Washington D.C. area. One of my more memorable visits from my trip was the Phillips Collection, a unique exhibition space and growing collection of modern art pieces, accompanied by classical works and contemporary acquisitions. Having excitedly made the Metro ride out to Dupont Circle, I simply expected to focus my attention towards the Alphonse Mucha exhibit on display during my visit. While the Mucha exhibit surpassed my expectations, I found the rest of the collection to be fantastically curated and unexpectedly diverse. Despite my amusement with the excellence of the Phillips, one particular piece by Gustav Courbet definitively held my attention.
Winter in Jura by Courbet depicts a woman trudging through a colorful, snow-covered landscape. But this isn’t just any landscape painting. After finding Courbet’s work upon visiting the Phillips collection, I examined his portfolio and incessantly asked myself, “How can such a moody composition become so shockingly magnificent?” Part of the explanation could be Courbet’s realist style, which focused primarily on depicting the grandeur and simplicity of the French countryside and the ordinary folk that inhabit it. Winter in Jura takes on a particularly melancholic tone, as the woman represents such a small portion of the looming landscape—characterized by snow-capped boulders and matted merlot foliage which slowly engulfs her as she advances into the brush.
Many of Courbet’s paintings take on this gloomy attitude, but it makes for a distinctive and captivating composition. While many painters would choose to enhance the vibrancy of their work by adding white highlights and a softer color palette, Courbet chooses to largely dampen the brightness of the setting and paint on a nearly black background. Similarly to Baroque style, which commonly utilized a black background to enhance the dramatic nature of the scenes portrayed, even still life objects painted by Courbet transcend their inanimacy. The darkness of his scenes allowed Courbet to depict his subjects with a flare unlike most landscape painters; the richness of the colors observed in the likes of Bouquet of Flowers improve the composition of the piece. I particularly enjoy Courbet’s work because it invokes a feeling of unease, even in the presence of mundane scenes.
My favorite piece by Courbet is The Beach at Trouville at Low Tide, a stunning portrayal of the shoreline in Trouville-sur-Mer, France. This coastal town is known for its dramatic tidal shifts, which, at low tide, can expose stretches of sand extending over ten meters. While Courbet often favored a darker palette accented by intense primary colors, this particular work stands out for its utilization of warmer tones. His mastery of visual technique is especially evident in this piece. Courbet exaggerates the vastness of the landscape by dedicating much of the upper canvas to an expansive sky, saturating the canvas with a heavy, looming presence that stretches deep into the horizon. In the distance, the silhouettes of a local playing fetch with a dog subtly add to the landscape’s unsettling stillness. My favorite detail is the dark purple puddles left behind by the receding tide, conveying a sinking shadowy depth at the center of the composition. This suggests a richly textured terrain, rather than a flat, featureless shore. Finally, Courbet’s expert use of highlights along the waterline enhance the volume and texture of the lingering pools and makes the scene pop out of the canvas.
