L'Immensité

1869 · Oil painting · 60 × 82.2 cm

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Dove si trova «L'Immensité» oggi? Victoria and Albert Museum, Paintings, Room 81, The Edwin and Susan Davies Galleries, Londra. Sì, esposta ora. Verificato 25 settembre 2026.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Londra, Regno Unito

SalaPaintings, Room 81, The Edwin and Susan Davies Galleries

Esposta al pubblico.

Verificato: 14 giorni fa
Ultimo cambio di stato: 25 set 2026
Fonte: Il museo

Sulla mappa Pagina del museo

Sul dipinto

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was born in Ornans in Franche-Comté where he first trained with Père Baud (or Beau), a former pupil of Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835), and later in Besançon with Charles-Antoine Flageoulot (1774-1840), a former pupil of Jacques-Louis David. He then entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He travelled in the Netherlands in 1846 and was influenced by the Dutch Old masters' free technique. Upon his return to Paris he specialised in landscape and genre paintings.

This painting is a fine example of Courbet's late period when he started moving away from naturalistic representation. It depicts the sea at low tide near Etretat on the Normandy coastline, a spot praised by painters since the mid-century.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Scheda

Numero di inventario: CAI.59

Che cosa raffigura

Sea

In catalogo

Dipinti Olio Pittura francese Realismo Impressionismo XIX secolo French School Etretat

Fonti

Victoria and Albert Museum
Immagine: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Nel frattempo, nella vita di Gustave Courbet

Tutta la vita

4 September 1870
Proposes taking down the Vendôme Column
On 4 September 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, Courbet wrote to the Government of National Defense asking for permission to dismantle the column in the Place Vendôme, a monument devoid of artistic value that perpetuated the ideas of war and conquest; he suggested moving it to a place such as the Invalides. The government did nothing, but the proposal was not forgotten.
18 March 1871
The Paris Commune
After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War a revolutionary government, the Paris Commune, briefly took power in the city on 18 March 1871. Courbet played an active part.
5 April 1871
Courbet organizes the Federation of Artists
Some three to four hundred painters, sculptors, architects and decorators attended the Federation's first meeting in the Grand Amphitheater of the School of Medicine. Courbet chaired it and proposed reopening the Louvre and the Musée du Luxembourg, holding a Salon free of government interference and awards, and abolishing the École des Beaux-Arts and other state institutions.
16 April 1871
Elected delegate for the 6th arrondissement
In special elections on 16 April Courbet was elected delegate for the 6th arrondissement of Paris; he was given the title of Delegate of Fine Arts and on 21 April was also made a member of the Commission on Education.
16 May 1871
The fall of the Vendôme Column
On 16 May 1871, nine days before the fall of the Commune, the column whose removal Courbet had requested back in September 1870 was pulled down in a large ceremony with military bands and photographers and broke into pieces. Some witnesses said Courbet was there, others denied it.
28 May – 7 June 1871
In hiding with friends, then arrested
After the French army's final suppression of the Commune on 28 May, Courbet went into hiding in the apartments of various friends; he was arrested on 7 June.