Waves|Gustave Courbet |Search Collection | The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 14 April 2025

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Currently not on display

Gustave Courbet

Ornans, 1819 - La Tour-de-Peilz, 1877

Waves

Date	c. 1870
Materials and Techniques	oil on canvas
Size（cm）	72.5 x 92.5
Inscriptions	Signed lower left: G. Courbet.; marked in chalk on a label ‘LERONDELLE’ [packing firm] on the reverse: 82
Credit Line	Matsukata Collection
Standard ref.	Fernier 683; M331
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1959-0062

Courbet painted many works depicting the coast of the English Channel at Tourville and Etretat in the latter half of the 1860s. This coastline provided the stage for works by Corot, Boudin and Monet, and these artists were dubbed the Saint-Siméon Group after a site in this region. Courbet was one of the most active members of this group. In 1868 Courbet, Manet, Monet and Boudin participated in the International Seascape Exhibition in Le Havre. It is thought that Waves was painted on the coast at Etretat in 1869. Courbet's powerful brushwork can be seen in the expression of the constantly changing waves and sky. The huge waves with their white caps rise up and crash under the heavy sky. The waves eventually crash on the huge crags in the foreground. This transitory moment was captured on canvas by his virtuosity. Courbet created several other works on this subject in the same year. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.65)

Provenance

Sale, M. X... (Reitlinger), Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 1 June 1908, lot 9, where purchased by Gradt; sale, Mrs. X..., Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 16–17 December 1919, lot 233, where purchased by Barbazanges; John Levy Galleries, Paris; purchased from John Levy Galleries Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe, 1921 [see letter from John Levy Galleries to Léonce Bénédite, dated 22 November 1921, in Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux, Paris (copy in NMWA curatorial file)]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.

Exhibition History

1947: De David à Cézanne, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussel, 0 November 1947 - 0 January 1948, cat. no. 76, pl. 43, repr.
1949: Landscapes in French art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 0 1949 - 0 1950, cat. no. 210
1951: Le paysage français de Poussin à Cézanne, Rijksmusenm Amsterdam, 0 1951 - 0 1951, cat. no. 29, repr. p. 16
1952: Gustave Courbet, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon, 0 1952 - 0 1952
1955: Mostra di capolavori della pittura francese dell'ottocento, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, 0 February 1955 - 0 March 1955
1956: Peinture française du XIXe siècle, Pushkin Museum, Moscow, 0 1956 - 0 1956, Hermitage, Leningrad, cat. repr. p. 103
2013: Monet, An Eye for Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 7 December 2013 - 9 March 2014, cat. no. 46, col. repr.
2014: Voices Calling from the Unusual: Hirano Keiichiro's Selection of Western Art Masterpieces, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 8 April 2014 - 15 June 2014, cat. no. 32
2017: Hokusai and Japonisme, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 21 October 2017 - 28 January 2018, cat. no. 184, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey: Upon the 60th Anniversary of the NMWA, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 11 June 2019 - 23 September 2019, cat. no. 103, col. repr.
2022: Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus, Museum Folkwang, 6 February 2022 - 15 May 2022
2022: In Dialogue with Nature - from Friedrich, Monet and Van Gogh to Richter, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 4 June 2022 - 11 September 2022, cat. no. 34

Bibliography

1906: Riat, G. Gustave Courbet, peintre. Paris, 1906, p. 268.
1927: L'Art et les Artistes. no. 80, Oct. 1927, repr. p. 21.
1955: La Collection Matsukata, Tokyo, Asahi- Shimbun, 1955 (Japanese), no. 3, col. repr.
1959: Mizue: Tokushu Matsukata Korekushon no Kaiga. no. 651, Tokyo, Bijutsu Shuppansha, July 1959 (Japanese), p.10, n. p. col. repr.
1961: Catalogue du Musée National d'Art Occidental, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1961 (Préface and Catalogue Général in Japanese and French), P-86.
1961: Sekai Bijutsu Zenshu. vol. 36, Tokyo, Kadokawa Shoten, 1961 (Japanese), p. 239, no.2, col. repr.
1971: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 16, repr.
1975: Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 26, repr.
1978: Fernier, R. La vie et l'œuvre de Gustave Courbet. tome 2, Lausanne/Paris, 1978, p. 80, no. 683, repr.
1978: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 32, repr.
1979: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of Paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 74, repr.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 491.
2006: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 65, col. repr.
2009: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 65, col. repr.
2013: Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 80, col. repr.
2013: MONET, An Eye For Landscapes: Innovation in 19th Century French Landscape Paintings(exh. cat.). Tokyo, TBS, c2013, cat. no. 46, col. repr.
2017: Hokusai and Japonisme (exh. cat.). Hakamata, Hiroyo; Ikeda, Yuko, eds. Tokyo, Yomiuri Shimbun; The National Museum of western Art, Tokyo, 2017, pp. 238, 392, cat. no. 184, col. repr.
2018: The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 1: Paintings, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2018, cat. no. 331, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of the Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2019, pp. 192-193, 366, cat. no. 103, col. repr.
2022: Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus (exh.cat.). Engel, Nadine; Herlemann, Rebecca, eds. Berlin, Hatje Cantz, [2022], pp. 265, 363, col. repr.
2022: In Dialogue with Nature: from Friedrich, Monet and Van Gogh to Richter (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi; Shinfuji, Atsushi; Yomiuri Shimbun, Museum Exhibition Department, eds. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2022, pp. 101, 256, cat. no. 34, col. repr.

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