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Panoramic View of the Alps, Les Dents du Midi
Gustave Courbet, 1877
Gustave Courbet was working on this large landscape for the Paris Universal Exposition of 1879 when he died in December 1877. He painted it in Switzerland, where he had gone into exile after being condemned for his part in the Paris Commune of 1871.
The view looks south across Lake Geneva to the mountains known as Les Dents du Midi. Courbet used a palette knife heavily in some areas, which gives the surface a rough, scraped texture. The lower right corner is unfinished, so you can see where he stopped. The canvas is about 151 by 210 centimetres without its frame.
It is a rare chance to see a late Courbet in the state he left it: the sky and mountains largely resolved, the foreground still waiting.
From the museum record
| Artist | Gustave Courbet |
|---|---|
| Date | 1877 |
| Medium | Oil on fabric |
| Size | Unframed: 151.2 x 210.2 cm |
| Museum | The Cleveland Museum of Art |
| Credit line | John L. Severance Fund and various donors by exchange |
| Accession number | 1964.420 |
| Licence | Open Access (CC0) |
Source: The Cleveland Museum of Art collection record. Facts such as dates, sizes and credit lines come from that record. The write-up above was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the museum record and standard references. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
