Courbet created the painting Hut in the Mountains in the final years of his life. After the fall of the Paris Commune, in which he was an active participant, the artist lived as an emigrant in Switzerland. In the small landscape, created in a free painting manner, Courbet creates a generalized, grand image of nature with his characteristic energy. A plain hut, sinking into the ground, seems just as powerful as the mighty mountain peaks surrounding it. This impression is strengthened by the gold-brown color scheme, interspersed with red for the hut’s roof. The densely applied paint gives Courbet’s painting the feeling of an extraordinary dimensionality and grandeur.