Details

Published: 30 October 2020

• landscape
• corot
• realism
• National Gallery of Art
• classical
• plein-air
• Ville d'Avray

• Date: 1867
• Title: Ville d'Avray
• Holder: National Gallery of Art
• Artist: Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
• Movement: Realism

Ville-d'Avray is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 11.9 km from the center of Paris. The commune is served by the Boulogne-Billancourt prefecture, of the Hauts-de-Seine department.

Traditional narrative or historical painting would have a landscape in the background, but not necessarily an actual landscape. From the 1830s, however, the modern landscape painting genre was born as an increasing number of painters observed and painted landscapes out of doors. Camille Corot was one of the new genre's pioneers. The town of Ville d'Avray, on the outskirts of Paris, and on the property he had inherited from his parents, was blessed with a wealth of natural beauty, and Corot painted its landscapes, with its forests and lakes, again and again throughout his career.

Several of these paintings may be seen on this site in the Corot Gallery.