Summer Landscape, 1855 – 1860

Dimensions: 38.5 x 43.4 cm

Physical Description: Oil on canvas

Inventory Number: 1404

Acquisition: Acquired in 1906 as a gift from the Benedikt Goldschmidt heirs

Status: On display, 1st upper level, Modern Art, room 2

Texts

About the Work

The artist Camille Corot travelled across the French countryside on foot in search of picturesque, intimate landscape settings. He made oil sketches on the spot and later developed them in his studio. Corot's relaxed brushstrokes produce blurred contours around the objects, which he then smudges to create a uniform, atmospheric impression. With his selection of simple, rural subjects, he distanced himself from neoclassical painting. Corot is regarded as the main representative of the Barbizon School, and his painting style makes him one of the forerunners of Impressionism.