居斯塔夫‧庫爾貝（Gustave Courbet, 1819-1877）是法國寫實主義（Realism）的創始人，也是當時領導年輕藝術家反抗傳統學院派風格的先鋒人物。他主張繪畫除了要「忠於自然」外，亦必須「忠於時代」，再現當下時代的生活特徵，所以經常在作品中刻畫當時底層人民的真實生活，而與當時偏好歷史畫題材和精緻甜美畫風的學院派繪畫相去甚遠。除了當代風俗畫創作外，庫爾貝更是一位出色的風景畫家，並多以家鄉——奧南（Ornans）為主要題材，例如此作。

畫中描繪奧南地區一處不知名的山谷，一條溪流正從兩座高大山脈交錯處裡潺潺而過。灰黑色調的山石在乾刷、層疊或色點等各種層次筆法的雕琢下，忠實地呈現山岩凹凸不平的崎嶇感與陡峭之勢，而點綴於其中的灰白色點則表現變化多端的山崖斷面。此外，覆蓋在山岩上的綠色草皮、樹木的枝葉，以及前景的綠色平原也同樣傳神地表現出大自然裡最具原始粗獷精神的山林野景。而遠方一抹湛藍天空搭配朵朵薄雲，則在展現晴空美景之餘，更加襯托出前景山谷景觀的雄偉壯觀。

1840年代遷居巴黎的庫爾貝，由於心繫家鄉美景，所以經常返回奧南取景作畫，此作被認為是他1864至1865年間旅居奧南期間的作品。畫中未受任何開發，且完整保有最原始的自然景觀，除了被認為與庫爾貝向來主張揚棄既有的傳統、桀敖不馴的個人特質相符，而成為畫家寄託個人情感與理想的最佳主題之外，同時也是呼應其寫實主義中強調描繪自然、真誠且實際存在的景觀。(徐鈺涵)

As the founder of the Realist movement in France, Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was also a pioneering figure who led young artists to reject the traditional academic style. Courbet contended that in addition to being “truthful to nature,” a painter should “remain true to one’s time” by conveying the unique features of contemporary life. He therefore often depicted the lives of lower class people. His choice of style was a far cry from other contemporary academic painters who showed a marked preference for historical topics and relatively more embellished aesthetic styles. In addition to making genre paintings, Courbet was also an outstanding landscape painter who mostly chose his hometown, Ornans, as the subject of his paintings, as evidenced by paintings such as Loue Valley in Ornans.

This painting depicts an unknown valley in Ornans in which a stream flows from the juncture of two high mountains. Using various techniques including dry brush, layering, overlapping, and dots of color, Courbet truthfully represents the rugged rocks and steep mountains in dark gray tones while ash gray dots in between reveal the changing sections of the cliffs. In addition, he vividly portrays the original and rough spirit of the wilderness in nature through the green turf covering the cliff, the leaves of the trees, and the green grassland in the foreground. The azure sky and thin, feathery clouds indicate the clear weather set against the magnificence of the valley in the foreground.
After moving to Paris in the 1840s, Courbet often returned to Ornans because the beautiful landscape of his hometown always remained in his mind. This painting is believed to be created between 1864 and 1865 during one of his stays in Ornans. The untamed, rugged natural landscape resonated with Courbet’s desire to reject existing traditions and further underscores his unruly personal qualities, making it an ideal subject for him to commit his feelings and ideals. At the same time, this also echoed the Realist concept of attempting to sincerely depict natural, real landscapes. (Yu Han HSU)