Gustave Courbet's Reclining Nude In the Philadelphia Museum of Art are five paintings by Gustave Courbet; of all of these I found Reclining Nude (1868, Oil on canvas, The Louis & Stern Collection, 63-81-20) the most interesting. It depicts a nude woman lying on the beach beneath a billowing canopy. A dark, but tranquil sea is in the background. The sky is dark as if the final rays of the sun were disappearing over the horizon. There are a few clouds in the sky, they are dark but not threatening. The picture is very dark in general and there is no obvious light source. The edges of the painting are so dark it is impossible to tell w