Marine: The Waterspout

Gustave Courbet

1870 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

Courbet first witnessed a waterspout at Trouville, a village on the Channel Coast, in 1865 or 1866. This dramatic phenomenon, a tornado at sea, occurs when temperature differences in the air create a whirling spiral of wind and water. Courbet first painted the subject in 1866 (Philadelphia Museum of Art). The present picture features the cliffs of Étretat, as does a second, undated version of the composition (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon).

Artist

Gustave Courbet

Date

1870

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Gift of Horace Havemeyer, 1929