# The Cliff at Étretat

**Gustave Courbet** (French, 1819–1877)  
after 1872  
oil on fabric  
Unframed: 54.5 x 65.5 cm (21 7/16 x 25 13/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1929.465. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1929.465).

## About this work

Gustave Courbet painted this (after 1872), aged about 53. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Gustave Courbet](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/gustave-courbet)

French, 1819–1877; born in Ornans; died in La Tour-de-Peilz

Courbet left his native Ornans for Paris and became the standard-bearer of Realism, painting ordinary people and his own region on the scale reserved for history painting, as in A Burial at Ornans. When works were refused for the 1855 Exposition Universelle, he showed them in his own Pavilion of Realism. He also painted landscapes, seascapes and hunting scenes. After the Paris Commune of 1871 he was held responsible for the toppling of the Vendôme Column and spent his last years in exile in Switzerland.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: France, 19th century
- The artist was about 53
- Real size: about 21 × 26 in (55 × 66 cm). The 18 × 24 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Colour: black
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/524.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/524/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-cliff-at-etretat-cma-110953).