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Essay Archive - Gustave Courbet's Reclining Nude
Gustave Courbet's Reclining Nude
In the Philadelphia Museum of Art are five paintings by Gustave Courbet;
of all of these I found Reclining Nude (1868, Oil on canvas, The Louis &
Stern Collection, 63-81-20) the most interesting. It depicts a nude woman
lying on the beach beneath a billowing canopy. A dark, but tranquil sea is
in the background. The sky is dark as if the final rays of the sun were
disappearing over the horizon. There are a few clouds in the sky, they are
dark but not threatening. The picture is very dark in general and there is
no obvious light source. The edges of the painting are so dark it is
i....
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