Camille Corot

Camille Corot was a French artist born on 16 July 1796 in Paris. He first became known as a painter in his 50s with his evocative landscapes of French nature. Corot developed his early naturalistic painting style during his first stay in Rome, where he was inspired by the classical French tradition, such as Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain.

In Corot's pictures, one often sees a soft, hazy, silver-gray tone with a few cool, subdued patches of color and fluid, light brushstrokes. He liked to paint calm nature scenes with mist veils in the evening or dewy freshness in the morning. His motifs were often from the area around Paris, such as Ville d'Avray, for example in the pictures Morgenstunden (1859), Forest Star and Chartres Cathedral (both from the 1830s). In later works by Corot, one sees his classical interests again in the nymphs and satyrs that often populate his landscapes, and figure motifs take a more prominent place. He also painted many pictures of women from everyday life.

Corot's color scale became larger, the strokes wider, and his perception of reality became more realistic, as can be seen in The Blue Lady, which he painted at the age of 78. The National Museum in Oslo owns a picture of a gypsy woman, and Corot was also a significant graphic artist and draftsman.