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The Rock of Hautepierre

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Compare the low roof near the bottom with the huge pale cliff, then follow the alternating bands of rock and vegetation upward.

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The rocky formation dominates this view, with a small building providing a contrasting human scale. Courbet gives the cliff weight through large pale planes broken by dark seams and green vegetation. The landscape can be read as an arrangement of solid masses before its smaller details become apparent.

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Oil on canvas · 80.2 × 100.3 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Realism

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Details and source

Museum title
The Rock of Hautepierre
Artist
Gustave Courbet (French, 1819–1877)
Date
c. 1869
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
80.2 × 100.3 cm (31 1/2 × 39 1/2 in.); Framed: 113.1 × 134 × 11.5 cm (44 1/2 × 52 3/4 × 4 1/2 in.)
Credit line
Emily Crane Chadbourne Fund and Major Acquisitions Centennial Fund
Image license
CC0 1.0 · Public domain
Museum record
Art Institute of Chicago

Artist’s life 1819–1877

Realism c. 1840–late 1800s

View in the Atlas

Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.

The Rock of Hautepierre · Gustave Courbet, c. 1869
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The Rock of Hautepierre, Gustave Courbet

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