| The representation of a powerful wave in the fleeting moment before it crashes was acquired by Hugo von Tschudi in late 1904 from the art writer and dealer Théodore Duret in Paris; it wasn't until 1906 that the acquisition was approved as a gift from the Kaiser. In early 1905, Gustav Pauli in Bremen followed suit with a smaller yet equally striking version. By 1907, the Städelsche Museums-Verein in Frankfurt am Main, on the suggestion of the new museum director Georg Swarzenski, also acquired a version of the "Wave." All of these wave paintings, clearly a goal for every modern gallery, were created in 1869 in Étretat, with some completed in Paris in 1870. Courbet studied the crashing waves through a large window in a studio directly by the sea, aiming to capture their power and tumultuous force through radical artistic techniques. The colors are layered and applied with a palette knife, giving these depictions of the fluid, moving element an almost monumental solidity. Each wave captures a slice of infinity while simultaneously representing a fleeting moment of permanence right before it breaks. Charles Baudelaire had already recognized the connection between ephemerality and permanence in Courbet’s works, stating, "The modern in today’s art is the transient, the fleeting, the accidental: one half of art. The eternal and immovable constitutes the other half" (Ch. Baudelaire, Œuvres complètes, Vol. 2, Paris 1976, p. 695). Similarly, the Japanese understood the wave motif as a representation of infinity. The knowledge of Japanese woodblock prints, especially Hokusai’s iconic "Wave," was likely assumed by both the artist and the audience. In Japanese art, waves often take on decorative and ornamental qualities, while for both Hokusai and Courbet, they become symbols imbued with deeper meaning. Paul Cézanne explicitly admired Tschudi's acquisition in comparison to the "Wave" at the Louvre. Just as Heinrich von Kleist found resonant words for Caspar David Friedrich’s "Monk by the Sea" (National Gallery, Inv. No. NG 9/85) in 1810, he described Courbet’s wave as a remarkable achievement: "The great waves, which are in Berlin, are wonderful, one of the wonders of the century, much more dynamic, much tenser, with a more poisonous green, a dirtier orange than this one, with the foamy spray of the tide that comes from the depths of eternity, the torn sky and the pale sharpness. It feels as if it is about to engulf you; one recoils. The whole hall smells of water dust" (J. Gasquet, Cézanne, Berlin 1930, p. 141). Courbet faced criticism for his use of "dirty colors" from the beginning. However, he aimed to avoid smooth ideality through this method. For Cézanne, the "dirtier orange" deepened the truth content, thereby enhancing beauty. Contemporary French criticism also interpreted the "Wave" paintings, created between 1869 and 1870, as carrying a political message: a republican agitation symbolizing the strength of the people. |