The Trellis
Artist: Gustave Courbet (French, 1819-1877)
Date: 1862
Dimensions:
painting: 43 1/4 × 53 1/4 in. (109.9 × 135.3 cm)
framed: 54 3/4 × 65 × 4 in. (139.1 × 165.1 × 10.2 cm)
Medium: oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1950.309
Label Text:Summer flowers are the heart of this painting. Full-blown, they surge across the surface, engulfing the young woman whose dress is even printed with miniature flowers. Gustave Courbet, famous at the time for his confrontational images of peasant life and dramatic landscapes (see Landscape Near Ornans in this gallery), led a personal campaign to reform art. He declared that artists must represent contemporary life, not imitate the past. This painting of a woman arranging cut flowers on an outdoor trellis reflects Courbet’s Realist manifesto: it presents the young woman not as a classical nymph or allegorical figure, but as a pretty model in contemporary dress. It also elevates flower painting—traditionally considered low on the hierarchy of artistic genres—to a grand scale, the blooms dominating the composition.
On view
In Collection(s)