About This Artwork

Gustave Courbet
French, 1819-1877

The Valley of Les Puits-Noir, 1868

Oil on canvas
43 3/4 x 54 1/4 in. (111.1 x 137.8 cm)
Inscribed lower right: G. Courbet '68
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Morris I. Kaplan, 1956.762

Fernier 633

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

New York, Marie Harriman Gallery, Tenth Anniversary Exhibition. Courbet, November 7–December 7, 1940, cat. 15.

Tokyo, Seibu Museum, The Impressionist Tradition, Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago, October 18–December 1, 1985; traveled to Kyoto, Fukuoka Art Museum, January 5–February 2, 1986; Kyoto, Municipal Museum of Art, March 4–April 13, 1986, cat. 3.

Publication History

“Mouvement des arts- Collection Mazaroz-Ribalier,” La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité no. 22 (May 31, 1890), p. 1.

Georges Riat, Gustave Courbet, Peintre (Les Maîtres de l’art moderne) (Paris, 1906), p. 259

The Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1955–56 (Chicago, 1956), p. 3, ill.

The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961) pp. 108, 239 (ill.).

Robert Fernier, La Vie et l’oeuvre de Gustave Courbet: Catalogue raisonné (Paris, 1977), vol. 1, p. 58, no. 633.

Pierrre Couthion, L’Opera completa di Courbet (Milan, 1985), p. 108, no. 617, ill.

Ownership History

Acquired March 4, 1868 by A. Gavet, for 1,500 fr. [see Riat 1906, p.259 and handwritten label on reverse of painting, “La Vallee [du] Puits Noir/Peinte par Courbet [e]n 1868/ Appartient a Mr. A. Gavet"]. Jean-Paul Mazaroz-Ribalier; sold, Hotel Drouot, Paris, May 13-14, 1890, lot 17, for 3,500 fr. Paul Du Sartay, by 1940 [lent to New York 1940]. Mr. and Mrs. Morris I. Kaplan, Chicago by 1956; given to the Art Institute, 1956.