Although Courbet was the acknowledged  leader of the Realist school of painting, his work also has a certain affinity with Impressionists. He influenced Monet, who painted with hIm at Fecamp and Etretat in 1867, and together with Boudin and Jongkind, played a definite part in guiding and training the younger painter. After all, Realists and Impressionists alike share a love and appreciation of nature, and Courbet is closest to the Impressionists in his Honfleur paintings with their expanses of sky and ever-changing colouring. Courbet, like Corot, was one of the first artists to paint out of doors, and the green of his fields is even more convincing, fresher and more vivid than Constable's. It is particularly noticeable after 1854, when he stayed at Montpellier with his friend Bruyas, that his palette became lighter and brighter in tone.

Based on Phaidon encyclopedia of Impressionism, Maurice Serullaz, Phaidon, 1978