Gustave Courbet (French, 1819-1877)

The end of Courbet's life was spent in exile in Switzerland, as punishment for his participation on the toppling of the Vendtme column on May 16, 1871. Coubet's tragedy was that he could not return to France, his beloved homeland and the place that had provided the source for all his greatest paintings. France and its people had been the inspiration for his entire oeuvre and the vehicle for his Realism.

Many of the marine paintings of the exile years depict a turbulent, angry sea which mirrored the inner turmoil of the artist in exile. In the present painting, however, the sea is calm and the colors are soft and subdued, as if the artist had experienced a few moments of peace.