"Courbet has simply painted a wave, a real wave crashing on the shore". This comment from Émile Zola dating from 1870 illustrates the painter's desire to capture the reality of nature in all its power and might. 

The motif is different from traditional, more picturesque images of the sea and seashore. No human presence brings life to this painting, neither are there any details of the shoreline: the daring composition is narrowly focused only on a menacing wave. The artist has vigorously applied the thick paint with a brush, as well as with a palette knife in places, allowing the viewer to feel the movement and energy of the wave. Rather than connecting the upper and lower parts of the painting, the horizon strongly opposes sea and sky. The colour palette used for the sea explores a wide spectrum of shades of green, while the sky is composed of muted tones.

This painting is part of a series of waves Courbet painted in 1869. The artist rented a house for the summer in Étretat, on the coast of Normandy, where he began some of his compositions on this theme. He then reworked them from memory in his Paris studio, adding details from his own world: in an analogy with his native Doubs, the wave takes on an almost mineral quality, rising up like a stony ridge.