Paysage Au Ruisseau Et Au Rocher 

Gustave Courbet made this landscape painting with oil on canvas sometime in the mid-19th century. Courbet was known for his commitment to Realism, a movement that sought to depict the world as it is, without romanticization. He was particularly interested in representing the lives and experiences of ordinary people, and you see it in the physicality of the painting itself. You see the textured brushstrokes and earthy tones that give the rocks and water a tangible presence. This attention to the material qualities of paint and canvas was a departure from the smooth, idealized surfaces of earlier academic painting. Courbet's choice of subject matter and his direct, unvarnished technique challenged the conventions of the art world, and also of wider social issues of labor, politics, and consumption. His paintings invited viewers to engage with the world around them in a new and critical way, emphasizing the importance of observation, experience, and the inherent qualities of the materials used.