Gustave Courbet (1819-1877)

French painter Gustave Courbet was one of the first Realist artists in the 19th Century, in fact he is credited with coining the term Realism. For Courbet art was not just about painting pretty pictures, but rather about depicting the irregularities of nature in all it's beauty and harshness. Working closely with other Realists Honore Daumier and Jean-François Millet, Courbet is best known for his figure painting compositions, seascapes and landscapes. His most notable works include The Burial at Ornans, 1849 (Musee d'Orsay, Paris) and The Painter's Studio; A Real Allegory, 1855 (Musee d'Orsay, Paris).

Detail from The Painter's Studio.
Courbet (the artist) is in the centre

Born to a wealthy farming family in Ornans, France in 1819, Courbet became interested in art at a young age. He remained close to his rural origins throughout his life, continuing to depict rural subjects. In 1841 he move to Paris, initially to study law at the behest of his family, but soon he decided to study fine art painting. Initially he worked at the studio of artist Charles de Steuben, but driven by a desire for self-discovery he left to develop his own style. His first works were based on illustrations from literary works, which he soon abandoned, for studies of real life. His first breakthrough came in 1844 when the Salon accepted his self-portrait, Courbet with a Black Dog. During the 1840s he produced a large quantity of paintings, mainly in a romantic style including sleeping girls and self-portraits. In 1848 he produced After Dinner in Ornans (Palace of Fine Arts, Lille), this was a genre painting on a scale hereto reserved only for historical or mythological works. This breakthrough was closely followed by other important works including The Burial at Ornans, 1849 and The Stone Breakers, 1850 (destroyed).

On the left are his enemies, including
the evils (eg. poverty) he has fought
against.

Burial at Ornans depicted the funeral of his uncle in his hometown of Ornans. Up until this point, actors were used to pose in historical paintings, but Courbet painted 'the very people who had been present at the interment, all the townspeople'. Critics and public alike were uncertain about his work, they thought he was doing his best to make pictures unnecessarily ugly; and the subject matter, a large funeral, was normally only reserved for Kings and Popes. It marked an end to the fantasy of Romanticism and opened the doors to Realism. Courbet himself said 'The Burial at Ornans was in reality the burial of Romanticism’.

In the 1850s and 1860s, he continued to blaze his own independent path. Dissatisfied with his treatment by art critics, he took the revolutionary step of constructing his own pavilion at the 1855 and 1867 world fairs. Although his painting The Artist Studio was not well received, his other smaller landscapes and still-lives sold well, which helped to keep him financially secure.

The Burial at Ornans (1849) (detail)

Other works from this time include The Wounded Man, 1844 (Musee d'Orsay), The Edge of the Sea at Palavas, 1854 (Musée Fabre, Montpellier), La Mere Gregoire, 1855 (Art Institute of Chicago), The Stormy Sea (or The Wave), 1869 (Musee d'Orsay) and The Calm Sea, 1869 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). No artist before Picasso left so much of himself on canvas. The numerous self-portraits he left behind show a highly individual bohemian. In his self-portrait 'The Desperate Man', he tears at his hair, wild and wide-eyed, showing strong influences from Caravaggio.

By 1859 he became the undisputed leader of the French Realist movement, although he resisted being associated with any school. His style had numerous followers, and in particular his seascapes with their changing cloud formations had an influence over the young impressionist painters.

WORLD'S GREATEST ART
For a list of the finest works of
painting and sculpture, by the
world's most famous artists, see:
Greatest Paintings Ever
Oils, watercolours, mixed media
by top painters: 1300-present.

WORLDS TOP ARTISTS
Best Artists of All Time.
For the greatest view painters, see:
Best Landcape Artists.
For the greatest portraitists
see: Best Portrait Artists.
For the greatest genre-painting, see:
Best Genre Painters.
For the top allegorical painting,
see: Best History Painters.

For a list of the highest prices paid
for works of art by famous painters:
Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings.

Towards the end of the 1860s he started painting a series of explicit nudes, which culminated in The Origin of the World, an up close view of the a woman's genitalia and The Sleepers, 1866, featuring two women in a bed. The works were banned but only increased his notoriety. His works could easily be mistaken for the work of a 20th century artist, and were undoubtedly years ahead of their time.

In 1870 he established the 'Federation of Artists' to help expand the influence of uncensored art. Members included Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Honore Daumier, Eugene Pottier, Andre Gill, Jules Dalou, and Edouard Manet. In 1873, to avoid an entanglement he had with the French government, he moved to Switzerland, where he died 4 years later at the age of 58. A major retrospective of his works was held in 1882 at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

Works by Gustave Courbet hang in the best art museums around the world.

• For more biographies of great painters, see Old Masters and Famous Artists.
• For information about famous artists in Ireland, see: Irish Art Encyclopedia.