1796 -1875 · Paris, Italy, Ville-d'Avray and Barbizon

Silver light, studies on the motif and poetic memories make Camille Corot an essential link between classical landscape and modernity.

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot was born in Paris in 1796 into a family of traders. After an initial orientation towards trading, he obtained from his parents the opportunity to devote himself to painting. He trained with Achille-Etna Michallon then with Jean-Victor Bertin, heirs of the historic landscape, but very early chose to work directly in front of nature. His first stay in Italy, from 1825 to 1828, was decisive. His first stay in Italy, from 1825 to 1828, was decisive. Rome, Narni, Tivoli and the surrounding countryside taught him to quickly grasp the relationships between sky, architecture, terrain and light. The Narni Bridge retained this freshness of study: the masses were laid clearly, the air circulated and the site remained longer important as the anecdote. Back in France, Corot travels almost every year. Normandy, Brittany, Fontainebleau, Douai, Chartres and Ville-d'Avray become so many laboratories. Chartres Cathedral combines topographical observation, sun-drenched walls and discreet movement of figures; the monument does not dominate life, it is part of a precise atmosphere. Corot gradually distinguishes two types of landscapes. The studies painted on the motif preserve the frankness of the place and the time. The "memories", recomposed in the workshop, transform the memory into silver harmony. Souvenir of Mortefontaine belongs to this second register: calm water, vaporous trees and musical or dreamy figures construct a world that seems real while escaping exact topography. This poetry has earned it immense success, but should not mask its rigor of composition. The trunks frame, the values order the depth and the small figures give scale. Corot also paints portraits and studio figures. The Woman with a Pearl Earring, often close to the Mona Lisa, unites stable pose, simple clothing and interior gaze. Its denser material shows that it never completely separates figure and landscape: The Woman with a Pearl Earring, often close to the Mona Lisa, unites stable pose, simple clothing and interior gaze. Its denser material shows that it never completely separates figure and landscape: The Woman with a Pearl Earring, often close to the Mona Lisa, unites stable pose, simple clothing and interior gaze. Its denser material shows that it never completely separates figure and landscape: The Woman with a Pearl Earring, often close to the Mona Lisa, unites stable pose, simple clothing and interior gaze. Its denser material shows that it never completely separates figure and landscape: the light envelops the model as it envelops the trees. Generous towards young artists, admired by realists and then impressionists, Corot died in Paris in 1875. His abundant work made possible a new relationship between observation, memory and sensation. The "Camille Corot" selection notably compares Souvenir de Mortefontaine and Chartres Cathedral. His reading favors the story.

Corot looks at the place accurately, then lets it become a memory: the topography dissolves just enough for the light to retain the emotion.