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Lot Essay
The end of Courbet's life was spent in exile in Switzerland, as punishment for his participation in the toppling of the Vendôme column on May 16, 1871. Courbet's tragedy was that he could not return to France, his beloved homeland and the place that had provided the source for all of his greatest paintings. France and its people had been Courbet's inspiration and the vehicle for his Realism.
Le Leman au crepuscule devant Bon Port was painted in 1876 during Courbet's Swiss exile. It shows the view from his window of the Villa Bon-Port, where he spent the last years of his life in La Tour de Peilz on Lake Geneva. In a rare nocturnal scene, the reflection of the moon streaks across the water where tiny boats are seen bobbing on the horizon. This was a view Courbet would have seen daily from his window, and one may speculate that he reflected on his life, as the moon reflects on the water. Courbet was to die the following year, and while many of his last letters are filled with optimism, he knew his health was failing and that he would most likely never see France again.
Jean Jacques Fernier considers this painting one of the masterworks of Courbet's late career.
Le Leman au crepuscule devant Bon Port was painted in 1876 during Courbet's Swiss exile. It shows the view from his window of the Villa Bon-Port, where he spent the last years of his life in La Tour de Peilz on Lake Geneva. In a rare nocturnal scene, the reflection of the moon streaks across the water where tiny boats are seen bobbing on the horizon. This was a view Courbet would have seen daily from his window, and one may speculate that he reflected on his life, as the moon reflects on the water. Courbet was to die the following year, and while many of his last letters are filled with optimism, he knew his health was failing and that he would most likely never see France again.
Jean Jacques Fernier considers this painting one of the masterworks of Courbet's late career.