Paysage Marin, Environs De Trouville 

Gustave Courbet painted *Paysage Marin, Environs De Trouville* using oil on canvas. Courbet, as a leading figure in the Realist movement, sought to depict the world as it was, without romanticization. In this landscape, we see a somber, turbulent sea under a heavy sky. The muted palette of browns and grays evokes a sense of melancholy and the sublime. The rough, unidealized brushstrokes challenge academic conventions, presenting nature in its raw, untamed state. Courbet once declared his aim "to translate the customs, the ideas, the appearance of my epoch." His commitment was to reflect the social and political realities of his time. The absence of human figures directs us to the overwhelming power of nature, reflecting a shift in artistic focus towards the natural world and away from traditional, idealized subjects. This painting captures a pivotal moment in art history, one in which the artist turns away from the stories of gods and men, to find truth in the landscape itself.