Highlights: Courbet and the Modern Landscape by Staff from Antiques & Fine Art magazine

The landscapes of Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) are radically innovative, yet they have been largely overlooked for more than a hundred years. Today Courbet is best known for his monumental figurative works, but he also defied the traditions of European studio painting in favor of painting compositions directly from nature. Early conventional landscapes such as The Stream (1855) gave way to increasingly abstract compositions such as Sunset, Vevey, Switzerland (1874), painted by Courbet, in exile in Switzerland because of his involvement in the civil war known as the Paris Commune. Many of his stunning landscapes are included in this exhibition organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Walters Art Museum. "The exhibition will be presented in a unique format incorporating music and lighting effects designed to draw viewers more deeply into Courbet's art," according to Walters' curator Eik Kahng.