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Lot Essay
Courbet visited the beach of Aubin-sur-mer, arriving there on August 24th, 1867, as a guest of his friend and patron, the pharmacist Fourquet. Courbet frequently visited the seaside throughout his career, and the sea held a special fascination for him. He himself writes, 'The sea! The sea with its charms saddens me. In its joyful moods, it makes me think of the laughing tiger; in its sad moods it recalls the crocodile's tears, and in its roaring fury, the caged monster that cannot swallow me up.' (Courbet to Victor Hugo in 1864, P. ten-Doesschat Chu, The Letters of Gustave Courbet, Chicago, 1992, p. 249, no. 64-18).
In La plage de Saint-Aubin, Courbet has chosen to depict the sea in one of its quieter moments. The painting is contemplative in mood, and one can almost hear the soft, repetitive sound of the waves rhythmically breaking on the wide, flat beach. The color harmonies are subtle and subdued. White and grey fair-weather clouds fill more than half of the canvas, with the dark blue of the sea and the pink and white sand, punctuated by the grey-green of the rocks on the shore, anchoring the composition in the lower third of the canvas. The canvas is a perfect rendition of a summer's day at the beach. Courbet was not caught up in the Romantic symbolic ideas of the sea - his marines are simply representations of natural phenomena, captured in all their splendor. He called these seascapes his paysages de mer.
Although this work bears the date 1867, Sarah Faunce has indicated that the painting might not depict St. Aubin, but Trouville, and the work was in fact executed a year or two earlier than indicated by the inscribed date. Courbet was in the habit of leaving his paintings unsigned and undated until they actually left his studio, and this is most probably the case with the present work.
This work has been examined and authenticated by Jean-Jacques Fernier.
This work has been examined and authenticated by Sarah Faunce and will be included in her forthcoming Courbet catalogue raisonné.
In La plage de Saint-Aubin, Courbet has chosen to depict the sea in one of its quieter moments. The painting is contemplative in mood, and one can almost hear the soft, repetitive sound of the waves rhythmically breaking on the wide, flat beach. The color harmonies are subtle and subdued. White and grey fair-weather clouds fill more than half of the canvas, with the dark blue of the sea and the pink and white sand, punctuated by the grey-green of the rocks on the shore, anchoring the composition in the lower third of the canvas. The canvas is a perfect rendition of a summer's day at the beach. Courbet was not caught up in the Romantic symbolic ideas of the sea - his marines are simply representations of natural phenomena, captured in all their splendor. He called these seascapes his paysages de mer.
Although this work bears the date 1867, Sarah Faunce has indicated that the painting might not depict St. Aubin, but Trouville, and the work was in fact executed a year or two earlier than indicated by the inscribed date. Courbet was in the habit of leaving his paintings unsigned and undated until they actually left his studio, and this is most probably the case with the present work.
This work has been examined and authenticated by Jean-Jacques Fernier.
This work has been examined and authenticated by Sarah Faunce and will be included in her forthcoming Courbet catalogue raisonné.