View in the Forest of Fontainebleau 1855

Gustave Courbet made this painting with oil on canvas, depicting the Forest of Fontainebleau, a place where the French impressionists also worked. Look closely, and you can see Courbet’s material handling. You can see it most in the broken reflections in the water, but also in the rendering of the rockface on the left. He applied the paint with decisive strokes, capturing the density and texture of the forest, and the effect of light filtering through the trees. This wasn't the polished style of the French academy; Courbet’s work embodied a new kind of straightforwardness and realism. He even used a palette knife, usually a tool for mixing, to apply paint directly to the canvas. This direct approach—more like troweling plaster than applying delicate glazes—was a conscious choice. It represented an aesthetic of labor, a commitment to portraying the world as it is, without idealization. By attending to his processes, we come to understand how radical Courbet’s vision truly was, and how deeply rooted in a certain set of values.