Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796-1875) - Matinée Brumeuse dans les Montagnes

painting

The Collection of Sidney Rothberg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Executed circa 1840-45, Matinée Brumeuse dans les Montagnes, depicts a mountain landscape shrouded in mist, giving the entire composition a dreamlike quality. Arestrained palette, particularly soft greens and grays, evokes the stillness of the day’s early hours. From foreground to background, subtle transitions between light and shadow contribute to the serenity of the painting. The mist, barely perceptible, casts a gauzy veil over the scene, blurring the boundary between reality and imagination. Both veil and revealer, it creates depth and distance–from mountains to hilltop village to sunrise–while inviting viewers to explore the space in-between.

Painted on site (most likely in Auvergne), and in a delicate blend of Romantic and Barbizon influences, Corot homes in on the elusive, ephemeral qualities of nature–qualities enhanced by his choice of subject matter, a misty morning. Matinée Brumeuse, in turn, becomes a poetic meditation on the fleeting moments when nature is transformed by atmospheric conditions. Unlike his contemporaries, Corot conveyed not only the physical reality of his settings, but also the emotional and spiritual resonance experienced therein. The mist, then, functions as a metaphor for the intersections between tangible and intangible, and between what is real and what is merely perceived.

The Artist.

The Estate of the Artist.

His Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, sale of 26-28 May 1875, lot 33 (as Montagnes d'Auvergne).

The Collection of Sidney Rothberg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.