Between 1864 and 1868, Courbet produced a series of paintings of female nudes, including this one. He could not have failed to witness the triumph of Cabanel's "Birth of Venus" (Musée d'Orsay, Paris) at the Salon of 1863, along with the popularity of other representations of Venus by Cabanel's fellow academicians. In "Woman in the Waves," Courbet simultaneously evokes the myth of Venus born of the sea, but slyly subverts the figure's pose, which derived from academic convention, by depicting the model's underarm hair—an element of realism underscored by the almost palpable quality of her flesh.

Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): 68 / G. Courbet

the artist, Paris (1868–73, sold in 1873 for Fr 50,000 or Fr 45,000 in bonds to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1873–at least 1875]; Jean-Baptiste Faure, Paris (by 1882–93; sold on January 9, 1893 for Fr 13,000 to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1893; stock no. 2580, as "Femme à la vague"; sold on January 18 for Fr 20,000 to Durand-Ruel]; [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1893; sold on January 30 for $5,000 to Havemeyer]; Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (1893–his d.1907); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929; cat., 1931, pp. 78–79, ill.)

Ghent. Casino. "Salon de Gand," September 13–November 15, 1868, no. 1031 (as "La femme à la mer").

Brussels. location unknown. "Exposition générale des beaux-arts," August 15–October 15, 1872, no. 143 (as "Femme dans une vague").

Paris. École des Beaux-Arts. "Exposition des œuvres de Gustave Courbet," May 1882, no. 24 (as "La Femme à la vague," lent by M. Faure, de l'Opéra).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Loan Exhibition of the Works of Gustave Courbet," April 7–May 18, 1919, no. 31 (as "The Woman in the Waves [La femme à la vague]," lent anonymously).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 33 [2nd ed., 1958, no. 94].

Hempstead, N.Y. Hofstra College. "Metropolitan Museum Masterpieces," June 26–September 1, 1952, no. 34.

Haus der Kunst München. "München 1869–1958: Aufbruch zur Modernen Kunst," June 21–October 5, 1958, no. 26 as "Badende—weiblicher Halbakt (Femme à la vague)"; this work was not included in the 1869 exhibition that the present show commemorated.

Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Gustave Courbet, 1819–1877," December 17, 1959–February 14, 1960, no. 67 (as "Woman in the Wave").

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Gustave Courbet, 1819–1877," February 26–April 14, 1960, no. 67.

Paris. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais. "Gustave Courbet, 1819–1877," September 30, 1977–January 2, 1978, no. 109 (as "La femme à la vague").

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Gustave Courbet, 1819–1877," January 19–March 19, 1978, no. 106 (as "Woman in the Waves").

Hamburger Kunsthalle. "Courbet und Deutschland," October 19–December 17, 1978, no. 277A (as "Frau in den Wellen [La femme à la vague]").

Frankfurt am Main. Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut. "Courbet und Deutschland," January 17–March 18, 1979, no. 277A.

Naples. Museo di Capodimonte. "Capolavori Impressionisti dei Musei Americani," December 3, 1986–February 1, 1987, no. 14 (as "Donna tra le onde").

Milan. Pinacoteca di Brera. "Capolavori Impressionisti dei Musei Americani," March 4–May 10, 1987, no. 14.

Brooklyn Museum. "Courbet Reconsidered," November 4, 1988–January 16, 1989, no. 68 (as "The Woman in the Waves").

Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Courbet Reconsidered," February 18–April 30, 1989, no. 68.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, no. A148.

Paris. Musée d'Orsay. "La collection Havemeyer: Quand l'Amérique découvrait l'impressionnisme...," October 20, 1997–January 18, 1998, no. 11 (as "La femme à la vague").

Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. "Courbet: Artiste et promoteur de son oeuvre," November 21, 1998–March 7, 1999, no. 53.

Stockholm. Nationalmuseum. "Gustave Courbet: en revoltör lanserar sitt verk," March 26–May 30, 1999, no. 53.

Köln. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. "Faszination Venus: Bilder einer Göttin von Cranach bis Cabanel," October 14, 2000–January 7, 2001, no. 75 (as "Frau in den Wellen").

Munich. Alte Pinakothek. "Faszination Venus: Bilder einter Götting von Cranach bis Cabanel," February 1, 2001–April 2, 2001, no. 75.

Antwerp. Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. "Faszination Venus: Bilder einter Göttin von Cranach bis Cabanel," May 20, 2001–August 15, 2001, no. 75.

The Hague. Gemeentemuseum. "De Naakte Waarheid: Courbet en het 19e-eeuwse naakt," March 11–June 18, 2006, unnumbered cat. (p. 81).

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 31.

Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19.Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.

Paris. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais. "Gustave Courbet," October 13, 2007–January 28, 2008, no. 183.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Gustave Courbet," February 27–May 18, 2008, no. 183.

Montpellier. Musée Fabre. "Gustave Courbet," June 14–September 28, 2008, no. 183.

Madrid. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. "Lágrimas de Eros," October 20, 2009–January 31, 2010, no. 24.

Barcelona. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. "Realismo(s). La huella de Courbet," April 7–July 24, 2011, no. 33.

Zoé Courbet. Letter to Ferdinand vander Haeghen. September 19, 1868 [published in Ref. Hoozee 1986, p. 87], lists it as no. 10 of the 11 paintings sent by Courbet to the 1868 Salon of Ghent.

Journal de Gand (September 16, 1868) [reprinted in Ref. Hoozee 1986, p. 85].

Gustave Courbet. Letter to Jules Castagnary. February 9, 1873 [published in P. D. Chu, ed., "Letters of Gustave Courbet," Chicago, 1992, p. 481], lists it among paintings he would like Castagnary to choose from for exhibition in Vienna.

Gustave Courbet. Letter to Alphonse Legrand. February 26, 1873 [published in P. D. Chu, ed., "Letters of Gustave Courbet," Chicago, 1992, p. 488], proposes to sell this work to Durand-Ruel for Fr 50,000 or 45,000 in bonds.

Gustave Courbet. Letter to Étienne Baudry. November 26, 1875 [published in P. D. Chu, ed., "Letters of Gustave Courbet," Chicago, 1992, p. 560], requests that Baudry withdraw this and other works from the Durand-Ruel gallery, which was being forced to sell its stock of paintings.

Camille Lemonnier. G. Courbet et son oeuvre. Paris, [1878], ill. p. 34 (etching), reproduces an etching by Charles Courtry; as "Baigneuse en mer".

Alexandre Estignard. Courbet: sa vie, ses oeuvres. Besançon, 1896, p. 166, erroneously lists it as still in the collection of Faure.

Julius Meier-Graefe. Corot und Courbet: Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Modernen Malerei. Leipzig, 1905, pp. 194–95, suggests that the figure can be seen as a personification of the waves.

Georges Riat. Gustave Courbet peintre. Paris, 1906, pp. 264–65, ill., identifies the same model in "Woman with a Parrot" (MMA 29.100.57) and several other nudes; compares this work to Titian's "Venus anadyomène" (National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh).

André Fontainas. Courbet. Paris, 1921, p. 83.

Julius Meier-Graefe. Courbet. Munich, 1921, p. 52.

Arsène Alexandre. "La Collection Havemeyer: Courbet et Corot." La Renaissance 12 (June 1929), p. 278, ill. p. 273.

Paul Jamot in "École française." La Peinture au Musée du Louvre. 1, Paris, 1929, p. 15, calls it "Baigneuse à la vague"; notes that the same model appears in "Venus and Psyche" (F370), "Woman with a Parrot" (MMA 29.100.57), and "La Source" (F627; Musée d'Orsay, Paris).

Charles Léger. Courbet. Paris, 1929, p. 138, pl. 50.

Harry B. Wehle. "The Exhibition of the H. O. Havemeyer Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 25 (March 1930), p. 55.

Pierre Courthion. Courbet. Paris, 1931, p. 35, pl. 76.

H. O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. n.p., 1931, pp. 78–79, ill., call it "Nude—La femme à la vague".

Charles Léger. Courbet et son temps (Lettres et documents inédits). Paris, 1948, pp. 126, 196.

Marie Luise Kaschnitz. Die Wahrheit, nicht der Traum: Das Leben des Malers Courbet. Leipzig, 1949, p. 145.

Werner Hofmann. Das Irdische Paradies. Munich, 1960, p. 301, pl. 114.

Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. New York, 1961, pp. 196–97.

Charles Sterling, and Margaretta M. Salinger. "XIX Century." French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2, New York, 1966, pp. 130–31, ill., suggest that the same model posed for "The Studio" (1855; F165; Musée d'Orsay, Paris), "Woman with a Parrot" (1866; F526; MMA 29.100.57), "The Young Bather" (1866; F535; MMA 29.100.124), and "Reclining Nude" (1868; F629, Philadelphia Museum of Art), nothing that the same pose appears in the latter.

Georges Boudaille. Gustave Courbet: Painter in Protest. Greenwich, Conn., 1969, p. 93.

Robert Fernier. Gustave Courbet: Peintre de l'art vivant. Paris, 1969, fig. 51.

Marie-Thérèse de Forges in Gustave Courbet (1819–1877). Exh. cat., Villa Medici. Rome, 1969, p. 80.

Hélène Toussaint in Gustave Courbet (1819–1877). Exh. cat., Villa Medici. Rome, 1969, p. 48, identifies the same model in "La Réflexion" (F430; Musée de Douai).

Anthea Callen. "Jean-Baptiste Faure, 1830–1914: A Study of a Patron and Collector of the Impressionists and their Contemporaries." Master's thesis, University of Leicester, 1971, p. 146, no. 163.

André Fermigier. Courbet. Geneva, 1971, p. 107, ill. p. 108 (color), calls the figure a sort of "Venus anadyomène" [see Ref. Riat 1906], which recalls both Titian and Romantic nudes, and prefigures Renoir.

Jack Lindsay. Gustave Courbet: His Life and Art. New York, 1973, p. 189.

Bruno Foucart. G. Courbet. Naefels, Switzerland, 1977, p. 62, ill. p. 40 (color), calls it "The Woman in the Waves" and "Bather".

Alan Bowness in Gustave Courbet, 1819–1877. Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Paris. London, 1978, p. 19 [French ed., 1977].

Robert Fernier. "Peintures, 1866–1877." La vie et l'oeuvre de Gustave Courbet. 2, Lausanne, 1978, p. 56, no. 628, ill. p. 57, calls it a "partial replica" of the "Reclining Nude" (F629; Philadelphia Museum of Art).

B[enedict]. N[icolson]. "Courbet at the R.A." Burlington Magazine 120 (March 1978), p. 173, suggests that this picture may have been inspired by Gros's "Diana Bathing," (Musée des beaux-arts, Besançon).

Hélène Toussaint in Gustave Courbet, 1819–1877. Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Paris. London, 1978, pp. 147, 178, 180, 182, no. 106, ill. [French ed. ,1977, pp. 165, 198, 200, no. 109, ill.], states that this figure derives from the theme of Amphitrite; in addition to "Reclining Nude" (F627; Philadelphia Museum of Art) and "Reflection" (F430, Musée de Douai), mentions three other pictures with the same model: "Woman with a Cat" (1864; F431; Worcester Art Museum), and "The Awakening" or "Venus and Psyche" (1866; F533; Kunstmuseum Bern) and "Sleep" (1866; F532; Musée du Petit Palais, Paris).

Eldon N[eal]. van Liere. "Solutions and Dissolutions: The Bather in Nineteenth-Century French Painting." Arts Magazine (May 1980), p. 107, fig. 10.

Pierre Courthion. L'opera completa di Courbet. Milan, 1985, p. 108, no. 612, ill., and colorpl. XXXV.

R. Hoozee. "Gustave Courbet op het Gentse Salon van 1868." De Wagenmenner en Andere Verhaln. Ghent, 1986, pp. 83, 85, 87.

Frances Weitzenhoffer. The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America. New York, 1986, pp. 112–13, 256, pl. 65, relates that after several years, Mrs. Havemeyer convinced her husband to buy this picture, their second nude by Courbet.

Gary Tinterow et al. Capolavori impressionisti dei musei americani. Exh. cat., Museo di Capodimonte, Naples. Milan, 1987, p. 38, no. 14, ill. p. 39 (color).

Douglas E. Edelson et al. in Courbet Reconsidered. Exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn, 1988, p. 74.

Sarah Faunce, and Linda Nochlin. Courbet Reconsidered. Exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn, 1988, p. 36 [reprinted in Ref. Nochlin 2007, p. 179].

Abigail Solomon-Godeau in Sarah Faunce and Linda Nochlin. Courbet Reconsidered. Exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn, 1988, p. 179, no. 68, ill. (color), dates it 1866; comments that Courbet transformed the conventional depiction of nudes to suit his own realist ends.

Klaus Herding. Courbet: To Venture Independence. New Haven, 1991, pp. 130, 243 n. 63.

Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. 3rd ed. [1st ed. 1930, repr. 1961]. New York, 1993, pp. 196–97, 330 n. 280.

Susan Alyson Stein in Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 214.

Gary Tinterow in Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 22, 53 n. 68, colorpl. 20, mistakenly dates it 1866; calls it "prurient".

Gretchen Wold in Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 317–18, no. A148, ill. p. 316, erroneously omits Exh. Brussels 1872 from the exhibition history of the picture.

Petra ten-Doesschate Chu in Courbet: artiste et promoteur de son oeuvre. Exh. cat., Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Paris, 1998, pp. 31, 39, 72, 81, 120, 144–45, no. 53, colorpl. 25, discusses this painting within the context of Courbet's nudes of the 1860s, suggesting thematic influences from both classical mythology and contemporary literature.

Valérie Bajou. Courbet. Paris, 2003, pp. 326, 341–43, 419 n. 87, ill. (color).

Kathryn Calley Galitz in The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 47, 51, 202, no. 31, ill. (color and black and white).

Kathryn Calley Galitz in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 62, 235–36, no. 58, ill. (color and black and white).

Linda Nochlin. Courbet. New York, 2007, pp. 179, 204, fig. 93.

19th Century European Paintings. Sotheby's, London. June 27, 2007, pp. 240–41, under no. 222, fig. 2 (color).

Laurence des Cars in Gustave Courbet. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. New York, 2008, pp. 367, 386 [French ed., Paris, 2007].

Dominique de Font-Réaulx in Gustave Courbet. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. New York, 2008, pp. 356, 374–76, no. 183, ill. pp. 336–37, 375 (color, overall and detail) [French ed., Paris, 2007].

Dominique Lobstein in Gustave Courbet. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. New York, 2008, p. 438 [French ed., Paris, 2007].

Guillermo Solana. Lágrimas de Eros. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2009, pp. 34–35, 117, 278, no. 24, ill. (color and black and white).

An etching after the painting by Charles Courtry is reproduced in Ref. Lemonnier 1878.