The Banks of the Marne in Winter

Exhibited at the Salon of 1866, this landscape was made by Camille Pissarro in deliberate opposition to the pastoral scenes of his mentor and unofficial teacher Camille Corot. Instead of using various brushes to create a beautifully crafted and refined surface, Pissarro loaded his paint on heavily, often with a palette knife, in emulation of Gustave Courbet. The subject, an empty rural winter landscape, is resolutely unpicturesque and purposefully devoid of the great oaks and ancient ruins of traditional Salon landscapes. (Source: Art Institute of Chicago)