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The Edge of the Pool (Au Bord de l'Etang)

Gustave Courbet

European Art

Courbet painted this cool and rather mysterious landscape for the marquis de Pomereu, with whom he had stayed near his native town of Ornans in eastern France. The artist renders the characteristic features of the Doubs region—craggy rocks, dark pools, tall oaks—with a great range of color tones and variations in technique, including a liberal use of his palette knife as well as his brush. He attentively contrasts the brightly illuminated green strip of the far bank with the murky center of the pool. The small figures of the woman on the bank and the man in the boat add a pastoral note to the painting.
MEDIUM Oil on canvas
  • Place Made: France
  • DATES 1867
    DIMENSIONS 31 3/4 x 39 3/8 in. (80.6 x 100 cm) Frame: 40 x 48 1/4 x 4 3/4 in. (101.6 x 122.6 x 12.1 cm)  (show scale)
    SIGNATURE Signed and dated lower left: "67/Gustave Courbet"
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 1992.17
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Mrs. Horace O. Havemeyer, Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt, and Hyman Brown, by exchange
    PROVENANCE Prior to 1877, gift of the artist to Michel-Marie-Robert de Pomereu of Paris, France; until circa 1991, inherited from Michel-Marie-Robert de Pomereu by his family; by September 18, 1991, purchased from the de Pomereu family by Stoppenbach and Delestre, Ltd., London, United Kingdom; January 7, 1992, purchased from Stoppenbach and Delestre, Ltd. by the Brooklyn Museum.
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    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Gustave Courbet (French, 1819–1877). The Edge of the Pool (Au Bord de l'Etang), 1867. Oil on canvas, 31 3/4 x 39 3/8 in. (80.6 x 100 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. Horace O. Havemeyer, Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt, and Hyman Brown, by exchange, 1992.17 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1992.17_SL1.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 1992.17_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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