The Edge of the Pool (Au Bord de l'Etang)

Courbet painted this cool and rather mysterious landscape for the marquis de Pomereu, with whom he had stayed near his native town of Ornans in eastern France. The artist renders the characteristic features of the Doubs region—craggy rocks, dark pools, tall oaks—with a great range of color tones and variations in technique, including a liberal use of his palette knife as well as his brush. He attentively contrasts the brightly illuminated green strip of the far bank with the murky center of the pool. The small figures of the woman on the bank and the man in the boat add a pastoral note to the painting.