Organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum in partnership with the Walters and with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, this was the first international loan exhibition to focus exclusively on the landscape paintings of Gustave Courbet (1819-77). Courbet’s landscape paintings of the 1860s defined the essential artistic issues that would concern the next generation of avant-garde painters (who would be called the impressionists), changing the course of painting for the next 100 years. Despite its enormous significance, Courbet’s landscape painting received surprisingly little consideration in exhibition form.

This show focused on 37 landscape paintings, which demonstrated how Courbet was a radical innovator both in the motifs he chose to paint and in the dramatic brushwork of his paintings. The exhibition opened at the Getty Museum, February 21-May 14, 2006, and traveled to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 18-Sept. 10, 2006, before coming to the
Walters.

Courbet and the Modern Landscape has been organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Walters Art Museum. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities. The Walters venue was presented by The Women’s Committee of the Walters Art Museum with additional support provided by Mr. and Mrs. Austin H. George.