Gustave Courbet – biography and paintings of the artist in the genre of Realism – Art Challenge. Artist Gustave Courbet - vernissage: the world of classic colors - the art of being - catalog of articles - life lines Gustave Courbet direction in art
Gustave Courbet [(Jean Desire) Gustave Courbet] was born on June 10, 1819, in the small town of Ornans, located in a mountainous area in the Loup River valley, on the border with Switzerland.
The Courbet family lived in Ornans for many generations.
Gustave's father was a wealthy landowner: he owned a house and farm, as well as vineyards in nearby Flagy.
Since 1837, Gustave attended art school in Besançon. However, Courbet did not receive a systematic art education. Since 1839, the young man lived in Paris, painted from life in private studios, copied paintings by old masters in the Louvre - Zurbaran, Velazquez, etc.
Since 1841, Courbet has persistently submitted his works to the Salon, but the Salon jury just as persistently rejects them. From 1841 to 1847 Of the twenty-five paintings submitted by the artist, only three were accepted.
In the first ten years of his stay in Paris, Courbet failed to sell almost a single painting; financially he was still completely dependent on his parents.
During these years, Courbet met a certain Virginia Binet, who soon became his mistress and in 1847 bore him a son.
In Paris, Courbet became close friends with the poet C. Baudelaire, the writer P. Proudhon, the anarchist J. Champfleury and the critic and childhood friend M. Bouchon. Friends regularly met in a pub located across the street from Courbet’s studio. Soon this establishment received the name “ Temple of Realism."
One of Courbet's works exhibited at the Salon attracted the attention of a Dutch art dealer, who ordered his portrait of him and invited him to Holland. In 1847, Courbet visited this country, where he became acquainted with the paintings of Rembrandt and Hals.
In 1848, a bourgeois-democratic revolution took place in France, overthrowing the bourgeois July Monarchy and establishing the Second Republic (1848-52). Courbet took the side of the rebels, although he did not participate in the hostilities.
In the same year, Courbet exhibited ten of his paintings at the Salon, which were received very favorably.
The revolutionary events of 1848, which Courbet witnessed, largely predetermined the democratic orientation of his work. Having gone through a short stage of closeness to romanticism (“The Cellist” (Self-Portrait), “Man with a Pipe” (Self-Portrait)), Courbet polemically opposed it (as well as academic classicism) art of a new type - “positive” (in the words of Courbet himself), recreating the world around us as it is. The desire to reveal the significance and poetry of everyday life and the nature of the French province leads Courbet to create monumental canvases imbued with realistic pathos (“Afternoon in Ornans”, “Funeral in Ornans”). Courbet willingly addresses the theme of labor, depicts people from the people (“Crushers” stone", "Windowers", "Bathers", "Asleep spinner", "Peasants returning from the fair").
In 1849, the painting “An Afternoon at Ornans” won a gold medal and was bought by the government. However, the monumental painting “Funeral at Ornans,” exhibited at the Salon in 1850-51, caused an extremely negative reaction from critics.
The painting “The Young Ladies of the Country,” exhibited a year later, received equally unfavorable reviews. In 1855, after three paintings by Courbet were not accepted for the World Exhibition, the disgruntled artist built a pavilion at his own expense and exhibited forty of his works in it. Center The exhibition included the allegorical painting “Atelier”.
Having released the exhibition catalogue, the artist substantiated his understanding of realism in fine art in his introduction.
In the early 1850s. Quite significant changes occur in Courbet's personal life. In particular, after taking her son, Virginia Binet leaves him.
After 1855, Courbet traveled a lot. In Trouville he met James Whistler; organizes a successful business, fulfilling orders from local celebrities. In Etretat, he works with Claude Monet. It turns out that outside of Paris, Courbet's popularity is quite high. The artist exhibited in Germany, Holland, Belgium and England, and everywhere he received honors, culminating in the Gold Medal from Leopold II of Belgium and the Order of St. Michael from Ludwig II of Bavaria (both awards awarded to the artist in 1869).
In the 1860s - early 1870s. Courbet works a lot in the landscape genre (“Roe deer at the Plaisir-Fontaine stream”), paints a number of marines (“Stormy Sea” (Wave), “Rock at Etretat after the Storm”), creates portraits (“Girl with Seagulls”, 1865, private collection), paints still lifes (“Fruit”, “Basket of Flowers”), nudes (“The Source”, “Woman with a Parrot”, “Woman in the Waves”) and hunting scenes (Baiting a Deer, 1867, Metropolitan Museum of Art).
In 1870, the French government awarded Courbet the Order of the Legion of Honor, but the artist pointedly refused this award.
In 1871, during the Paris Commune, Courbet headed a committee that decided to demolish the Vendôme Column as a symbol of the monarchy. After the fall of the Commune, Courbet was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment and a fine of 500 francs. In 1873, the new government ordered him to pay a fine of 300 thousand francs - towards the restoration of the Vendôme Column. The artist was forced to flee France. He spent the last years of his life in Switzerland.
Courbet died in the Tour de Peltz on December 31, 1877. In 1919, his remains were reburied in Ornans.
It's...just a SONG
well, as they say: “you can’t erase the words from a song,” and even more so the chorus...
And CHORUS.., this one is beautiful...
This is a painting - “The Origin of the World”, painted by Gustave Courbet in 1866.
Since then, she has not been exhibited to the general public for more than 120 years.
There is a version that the painting was commissioned by Khalil Bey, a Turkish diplomat, former ambassador of the Ottoman Empire in Athens and St. Petersburg, who lived in Paris at that time. After bankruptcy, he sold his collection and in 1868 the painting went to the antiques dealer Antoine de la Narde. Edmond de Goncourt discovered the painting in his shop in 1889, hidden behind wood paneling depicting a landscape. The Hungarian collector Baron Ferenc Hatvany bought it in 1910 from the Bernheim Jr. gallery in Paris and brought it to Budapest. There it remained until the end of World War II. Then the canvas was considered lost, only copies and reproductions remained.
In 1988, the painting was presented to the public for the first time after a long time at the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
The work is currently on display at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, where a special guard is assigned to it to monitor the public's reaction.
Gustave Courbet (June 10, 1819, Ornans - December 31, 1877, La Tour-de-Peil, Vaud, Switzerland) was a French painter, landscape painter, genre painter and portrait painter. He is considered one of the finalists of romanticism and the founders of realism in painting.
Biography of Gustave Courbet
Born into the family of a wealthy farmer. He studied at the Art School in Besançon, and from 1839 in Paris. He visited Suisse's studio, made sketches from life, and spent many hours copying works of old masters in the Louvre, highlighting Veronese, Velazquez, and Zurbaran among others.
It was in Paris that painting training took place in Courbet's biography. Basically, he learned by copying masterpieces in the Louvre.
In 1847, his work “Wounded Man” (Louvre) was criticized and not accepted into the salon. However, two of Courbet's earlier paintings were accepted.
Creativity of Courbet
Courbet repeatedly described himself as a realist throughout his life:
“Painting is about representing things that the artist can see and touch... I firmly hold the view that painting is an extremely concrete art and can only consist in depicting real, given things... It is a completely physical language.”
The most interesting of Courbet’s works: “Funeral at Ornans” (in the Orsay Museum), his own portrait, “Roe deer by the stream”, “Fight of deer”, “Wave” (all four - in the Louvre, in Paris), “Afternoon coffee at Ornans "(in the Lille Museum), "Road Stone Breakers" ("Stone Crusherers") (kept in the Dresden Gallery and died in 1945), "Fire" (a painting, due to its anti-government theme, destroyed by the police), "Village priests returning from a comradely feast" (a caustic satire on the clergy), "Bathers", "Woman with a Parrot", "Entrance to the Puy Noir Valley", "The Rock of Oragnon", "Deer by the Water" (in the Marseille Museum) and many landscapes (" A Gust of Wind”, etc.), in which the artist’s talent was expressed most clearly and fully.
The son of a wealthy landowner, who owned vast fields and vineyards, had a love for a healthy, vigorous body, quite natural for a villager. He did not learn to read and write until the end of his life; his illegible scribbles contained a lot of mistakes even in the simplest words. And reading did not give him pleasure. But when it comes to plump women with sensual forms, he was well versed in this.
Before Courbet, no one allowed himself to do this.
Gustave had many girlfriends, connections with them came down to simple physical satisfaction, uncomplicated by emotional attachments: during the day the model acted in one role, at night in another. And then they parted. However, the vacancy was immediately filled by new chosen ones.
Biographers of Gustave Courbet tried to establish the names of the women who populated his paintings and, according to hints from good friends, bestowed more than favor on him. This turned out to be an impossible task.
During the three months he spent, for example, at a seaside resort, he received in his studio over two thousand (!) ladies who insistently wanted to commission him for their portrait and were ready to pay for it at the highest rate.
Even in adulthood, he could sit in a pub for five hours and consume countless quantities of intoxicating drinks. Once, having visited Munich, where he was highly revered, he joined a four-day marathon of beer fans. There were sixty of them at the start, three reached the finish line, but the laurels of the winner, of course, went to Courbet.
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“What monster could this bastard come from? Under what hood, on what dung heap, watered with a mixture of wine, beer, poisonous saliva and stinking mucus, did this empty-voiced and hairy pumpkin, this womb pretending to be a man and an artist, grow?”, - this is exactly how Alexander Dumas the son spoke emotionally and angrily about this master.
Gustave Courbet shocked the sophisticated public of the 19th century with his unique creative passions. His views on art caused disgust, admiration or indignation, but did not leave anyone indifferent. In addition, the behavior of the revolutionary artist was also far from ideal. And he acquired the reputation of a “noisy prankster” back in 1831, when he was a schoolboy.
Young Courbet’s interest in drawing arose thanks to “father” Bod, the boy’s teacher. But the father saw his son as a successful lawyer, so the respectful son, heeding his parents’ advice, diligently studied law at the Royal College in Besançon. At the same time, he did not forget to pay attention to art, studying it at the local Academy. But one day the final choice was made in favor of creativity, and Gustave Courbet moved to Paris, where he began to master the craft.
The young man was a frequent visitor to museums, where he diligently copied the works of famous painters. True, Gustave was immediately deeply disappointed by the paintings of the French school. Looking disdainfully at the canvases, he boldly declared to his comrades that he would not have become an artist if true painting consisted only in such works.
The master wanted to systematize his knowledge and studied the works of each art school in strict sequence. Somewhat later, Courbet skillfully used the accumulated knowledge, for which his friends called him “Courbet the Preacher.” One day, his comrades brought Gustave to the Luxembourg Museum, put him in front of the painting and asked his opinion about the canvas. The impudent Courbet replied:
“I would do the same tomorrow if I dared”
He was ambitious and thirsty for recognition, for which he searched for a successful theme and experimented with styles. But the results of his experiments were unsuccessful, and most of the proposed works were criticized by members of the Salon jury. Only Self-Portrait with a Black Dog, where the artist depicted himself sitting near the entrance to the Plaisir-Fontaine grotto, received a more restrained assessment from the judges. On the left side of Courbet lay a sketchbook and a cane, and on the right was a black spaniel.
Gustave used the same painting as a draft, testing out a new drawing tool on canvas. Several careless strokes made with a palette knife are visible in the background. But even “Self-Portrait with a Black Dog” did not strengthen Gustave Courbet’s position; on the contrary, it only worsened after his marriage to Virginia Binet.
But soon luck smiled on the master: one Dutch merchant purchased two finished works by the artist and promised to make more orders if Courbet came to Holland. The master thought for a long time; his comrades, among whom were Charles Baudelaire, Pierre Proudhon and other young artists and writers, helped him make the final decision. Friends gathered in a tavern, which they called among themselves the “Temple of Realism.” It was there that they discussed the ideas that formed the basis for the realistic style of painting of the arrogant Gustave Courbet.
Critics openly spat at the artist, caricaturists were not averse to parodying any of his works, and viewers became furious when the master presented his scandalous paintings. The strong reaction to realism was justified for two reasons: this style seemed dangerous because it was actively supported by socialists, and its aesthetics opposed the academic manner adopted at the Salon.
The artist treated the opinion of society with ridicule and, not without pleasure, declared his opposition to the existing order:
“I am not only a socialist, but also a Democrat and a Republican. In other words, I am a revolutionary to the core."
If the classicists depicted ancient heroes, and the romantics gave preference to exceptional individuals in exceptional circumstances, then the realists, to whom Courbet counted himself, made their contemporaries and their everyday concerns the main theme of their work.
Gustave portrayed everything as real and did not recognize “embellishment.” For example, in 1849, the painting “Funeral in Ornans” was created, where ordinary Frenchmen were depicted in full height against the backdrop of a historical composition. The figures fill almost the entire space, and the indifferent appearance of the ritual participants gives vitality to the plot.
Courbet was especially good at portraits of women. It was they who aroused the greatest indignation of the highly moral part of society, which was ready to throw stones at the impudent artist. So, in 1853, the painting “Bathers” caused a lot of noise. This work is an open protest against old plots and previous concepts of depicting a person “in what his mother gave birth to.”
Critics accused the artist that the woman in the picture was too realistic, “forgetting” that, according to the canons of classicism, girlish outlines and forms belong exclusively to mythical characters. In the Salon, opinions were expressed that even crocodiles would lose their appetite if they saw such a magnificent lady. And the poses of the heroines of the picture also confused the audience. For example, in a girl with a raised hand they saw a hint of Mary Magdalene, and such a dubious interpretation immediately left the stamp of blasphemy and a blasphemous attitude towards faith on the picture. They even used outright and petty ridicule and quibbles about the fact that the cape on the depicted woman’s hips was not clean enough.
In 1854, the artist completed the realistic painting “Hello, Monsieur Courbet!”, which became a sensation at the Paris World Exhibition of 1855. At the same time, the artist was declared a champion of the new anti-intellectual art, and after that his open opposition to official circles began.
Rejected by the Salon, Gustave organized a private exhibition at the Pavilion of Realism. Courbet hoped for the public's admiration and support, but the demarche barely repaid the costs of building the premises.
But just two years later, the painting “Maids on the Banks of the Seine” was officially presented, which is considered an artistic expression of “moral, psychological and social ideas.”
From that time on, Courbet's creative rise began, which could not be broken either by imprisonment, or by the ridicule of an incompetent public, or by problems with the authorities. The artist firmly followed his civic position and advocated for a realistic depiction of reality. He once told Mr. Delacroix about this:
“How do you paint angels when you saw them? And if you haven’t seen them, how can you write them? So I only write what I see"
“From what monster... could this bastard come from? Under what hood, on what dung heap, doused with a mixture of wine, beer, poisonous saliva and stinking mucus, did this empty-voiced and hairy pumpkin grow, this womb pretending to be a man and an artist, this embodiment of the idiotic and powerless," he wrote angrily Alexander Dumas son about the painting by Gustave Courbet "Sleepers"(1866). I wonder what the great writer would say if he saw the painting "The Origin of the World", which was shown to the public only at the end of the 20th century - a century and a half after its creation? For a long time, the scandalous painting was in a private collection; now it is exhibited at the Orsay Museum. There is still a security guard assigned to her, designed to prevent a violent reaction from the audience.
Gustave Courbet is considered the founder of a new artistic style - realism. Richard Muter wrote: “He was hated because, having perfect mastery of his craft, he wrote as naturally as others eat, drink or talk.” Indeed, the artist’s work gave rise to loud scandals throughout his life.
Courbet was born on June 10, 1819 in Ornans, near the Swiss border. His father owned vineyards near Ornans. In 1831, the young man began attending the seminary in Ornans, and in 1837, at the insistence of his father, he entered the law college in Besançon. At this time, he also attended classes at the Academy, where his teacher was Charles-Antoine Flajoulot, a student of the greatest French classicist artist, Jacques-Louis David. In 1839, Courbet went to Paris, where he became acquainted with the art collection of the Louvre. He was particularly impressed by the small Dutch and Spanish artists, especially Velazquez. The young man preferred classes in art workshops to jurisprudence. In 1844 his painting "Self-portrait with a dog" was exhibited at the Paris Salon (the rest of the paintings he proposed were rejected by the jury). During these same years, he painted a large number of self-portraits, visited Ornan several times, and traveled around Belgium and the Netherlands, where he established contacts with painting sellers. One of the buyers of his works was the Dutch artist and collector, one of the founders of the Hague school of painting, Hendrik Willem Mesdag. In Paris he met and Honore Daumier.
At the end of the 1840s, the official direction of French painting was still academicism, and the works of realistic artists were periodically rejected by exhibition organizers. In 1847, all three of his works were rejected by the jury. The salon also did not accept paintings by such famous masters as Eugene Delacroix and Theodore Rousseau. In 1871, Courbet joined the Paris Commune, managed its public museums and led the overthrow of the Vendôme Column (a well-known symbol of Bonapartism). After the fall of the Commune, he served six months in prison and was sentenced to contribute to the costs of restoring the column he destroyed. This forced the artist to retire to Switzerland, where he died in poverty on December 31, 1877.
"Evening Moscow" invites you to remember the most famous paintings by Gustave Courbet.
1. "Self-portrait with a black dog" (1842)
Courbet's first painting, which was a real success, was painted in Paris. The artist depicted himself sitting on the ground at the entrance to the Plaisir-Fontaine grotto (not far from Ornans). To his left lie a cane and a sketchbook; to his right, against the backdrop of a sun-drenched landscape, a black fold-eared spaniel stands out in dark silhouette. In the sky and background are several test strokes made with a palette knife, a tool that Courbet later used with great skill. In May 1842, Courbet wrote to his parents: “I got a lovely dog, a purebred English spaniel - one of my friends gave it to me; everyone admires it, and in Udo’s house they welcome it much more than me.” Two years later, this self-portrait will open the doors of the Salon to Courbet - an honor that all beginners strenuously strive for. The painting is currently kept in the Musée du Petit Palace in Paris.
2. "Afternoon at Ornans" (1849)
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The painting was conceived and partially painted before 1849, during one of the artist’s visits to his hometown. It was already completed in Paris. Philologist and novelist Francis Wei wrote about his meeting with Courbet: “We were received by a tall young man with magnificent eyes, but skinny, pale, yellow, bony... He silently nodded to me and sat down again on the stool in front of the easel where the canvas “Afternoon at Ornans” stood. .<...>Why haven't you become famous yet with such a rare, such a wonderful talent? - I exclaimed. “No one has ever written like you!” “That’s right! - the artist responded with the peasant accent of a resident of Franche-Comté. “I write like a god!”
3. "Stone Crusher" (1849)
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In a letter to Francis Vey, Courbet describes this painting and talks about the circumstances that gave rise to her idea: “I was riding on our cart to the castle of Saint-Denis, near Sein-Vare, not far from Mezières, and stopped to look at two people - they represented a complete the personification of poverty. I immediately thought that this was the subject of a new painting, invited both of them to my studio the next morning and since then I have been working on the painting... on one side of the canvas there is a picture of a seventy-year-old man bent over his work, his hammer raised; up, the skin is tanned, the head is shaded by a straw hat, pants made of coarse fabric are all in patches, heels stick out from the once blue torn socks and clogs that have burst at the bottom. On the other side is a young guy with a dusty head and a dark face through a greasy, tattered shirt. bare sides and shoulders are visible, leather suspenders support what were once pants, dirty leather shoes have holes on all sides; an old man is on his knees, dragging a basket of rubble. Alas! This is how many people begin and end their lives." In the novel "Bieze from Serin", written shortly after, Francis Wey used phrases from Courbet's letter almost verbatim to describe two stone crushers by the side of the road. Famous French politician, philosopher and sociologist Pierre Joseph Proudhon in 1864 called Courbet the first truly social artist, and “The Stone Crusher” the first social painting.
4. "Hello, Mr. Courbet!" (1854)
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In May 1954, Courbet traveled to Montpellier at the invitation of a famous philanthropist and collector Alfredo Bruya. In the painting, the artist depicted himself with a cane and a knapsack on his back at the moment when Bruye, a servant and a dog met him on the road. The painting, painted with extreme realism, created a sensation at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1855. Courbet was declared a champion of a new anti-intellectual art, free from the conventions of academic painting. Courbet painted pictures based on real subjects and this, in particular, had a serious influence on the work of the Impressionists. They say that when he was asked to complete the figures of angels in a painting intended for the church, he replied: “I have never seen an angel. Show me an angel and I will paint it.”
5. "Sleepers" (1866)
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In the picture, which literally blew up bourgeois Europe, two naked women lie in an embrace on a bed covered with a white sheet, as a result of which the scene presented to the viewer seems to be a scene of lesbian love. A torn pearl necklace and a disorganized sheet only intensify this feeling. The canvas outraged the public to such an extent that the press literally exploded with an indignant cry. The artistic value of the painting became obvious only years later, when the scandal had subsided.
The name Courbet means no less for the art of the 19th century than Rembrandt and Velazquez for the 17th century. After all, he openly proclaimed realism as his creative method and was a member of the Paris Commune. The artist has always been at the center of class battles, starting with the revolution of 1848. Could he really be out of this? Courbet did not lead the uprisings, but his works were inspired by those who took part in them, the working people. He began to depict them in the way that once only gods, mythological heroes, and kings were represented. Everything was new to him. Courbet's art was hated as only a rebel can be hated, or they saw in him a banner of the struggle for a better future. This is how his painting is perceived to this day. Bourgeois critics belittle the significance of the artist’s works and try to consign them to oblivion. Democratic-minded authors emphasize his innovation.Courbet's realism response to the revolutionary events of 1848. It is impossible to compare the canvases “Funeral in Ornans” and “Stone Crusher”, created by him in 1849–1850, with the romantic self-portraits and far-fetched compositions that he executed before 1848. It is characteristic that his contemporaries called the artist “the son of the revolution.” And he himself agreed with this opinion.
Courbet's democracy was brought up from childhood, among his family, among the people of the province of Franche-Comté, hardworking and honest. Throughout his life he carried his love for his hometown of Ornan. He often returned there, painted the surrounding areas with powerful trees, arable lands and vineyards, and created portraits of the inhabitants. His grandfather, a participant in the Great French Revolution, a Jacobin, had a great influence on him. Gustave Courbet also adopted the ideas of his father, a liberal and supporter of the 1830 revolution.
Arriving in Paris, he reads books expounding the teachings of utopian socialists and considers himself their follower. In a late autobiographical note, the artist directly notes that for ten years, until the revolution of 1848, he advocated an active revolution. Articles under his signature appeared in the socialist newspaper Human Rights. The native of Ornans also accepted the ideas of the famous socialist Proudhon, the author of the sensational brochure “What is Property?”, with whom he later became very friendly. The combat poetry of Bérenger, the novels of Balzac and George Sand had an impact on the young man’s mentality. The artist’s freedom-loving character and unwillingness to take into account the norms of bourgeois “decent” behavior created legends; they talked about the “frantic provincial” everywhere. The cafe where Courbet visited with his friends, the poet Charles Baudelaire, the critic Chanfleury and others, began to be called the “temple of realism.”
On February 22, 1848, a republic was proclaimed in France, which the artist passionately supported. Together with Baudelaire and Chanfleury, he participates in the publication of the newspaper “Public Salvation”, for which he makes a drawing representing a young standard-bearer on a barricade. At the same time he founded a socialist club. Courbet was destined to see how brutally the July uprising was suppressed by General Cavaignac. The painter is depressed by what he sees. Fearing persecution by the authorities, he leaves for Ornans.
The revolution contributed to the birth of the “new” Courbet. The “master from Ornans,” as they began to call him, appeared. He puts into practice the principles of realism he developed.
A rare ability to work distinguishes the artist. In a short period of time, a number of works were created, three of which were destined for world fame: “An Afternoon at Ornans”, “Funeral at Ornans” and “Stone Crusher”. Their importance is not diminished even among such masterpieces of the French school as David’s “Oath of the Horatii,” Gericault’s “Raft of the Medusa,” and Delacroix’s “Liberty on the Barricades.” Courbet inherits the great tradition of progressive art in France. In his searches, he also relied on the achievements of outstanding masters of the past: Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Velazquez and Zurbaran. He developed a completely new manner, which allowed him to say: “I am a courbetist!”
Here is the painting “Afternoon at Ornans”. In the dark gloom of the kitchen, people sit around the dining table and listen to the violinist. Dim light from the upper window, invisible to the viewer, falls on the white tablecloth. The sitting positions are free. The artist's father, who posed for this painting, is depicted closer to the viewer, with a glass of wine in his hand. Opposite was the author himself, next to him was his childhood friend. The son of a local organist plays the violin. In fact, the canvas is not only a genre scene, but also a group portrait. This is where the skill of a portrait painter, acquired by Courbet in Paris in the forties, came in handy! The piece is executed very skillfully, the figures are masterfully sculpted with color. Light and shadow are especially well distributed, emphasizing the plasticity of the bodies. Courbet is close to the epic artistic language.
The painting was exhibited at the Salon of 1849, where it attracted widespread attention. Delacroix directly said about its author: “Innovator, revolutionary!”
In the next Salon, which opened on December 30, 1850, the painting “Funeral at Ornans” was listed as number 661 in the catalogue. This gigantic canvas, rivaling the size of a fresco composition, was begun by Courbet back in 1849. Under a gray sky, against the background of a dull plateau, a funeral procession moves. The artist pointed out that this is a portrait of the “secular” society of Ornans, where the mayor, priest, judge, notary, the author himself, his father, sisters, clerks, and gravedigger are represented. Perhaps the scene represents the burial of the artist's grandfather. This is also evidenced by the images of two old men in costumes of the late 18th century standing in the center of the picture. Courbet himself calls them “the old men of 1794,” that is, participants in the Great French Revolution, comrades of his grandfather. One of them has a questioning gesture. He seems to be wondering who will replace the outgoing generation. All the faces in the procession are distinguished by prosaic expression. The grief of some seems feigned; the curate reads the prayer purely mechanically. The other clergy, judging by their red and grinning faces, are drunk. Only children look natural.
Inheriting the traditions of Rembrandt’s “Night Watch,” the artist skillfully creates the image of a crowd. Although people react differently to what is happening, in general there is indifference. The images of the clergy are depicted in a comical way; it is worth recalling that Courbet is an atheist.
In comparison with the paintings in the Salon’s halls, the painting “Funeral at Ornans” looked extremely unexpected. From the point of view of academic painting, Courbet’s painting is “anti-compositional”: there are no main characters, no perspective depth. In the original charcoal sketch, the procession passes by the viewer altogether. But then the artist decides to make him a “participant” of what is happening. Therefore, the figures of people are written in full height. The procession turns towards the center of the picture. All participants are seen from bottom to top, equal in size. Equality of heads, a technique familiar from Greek reliefs, was apparently deliberately used here by Courbet. The “funeral” color scheme, in shades of black and gray, also corresponds to the unity of the compositional structure. There are only occasional splashes of red, white, blue and green.
Courbet painted the picture under difficult conditions. The huge canvas barely fit in the small, poorly lit workshop. Only one charcoal sketch was made. Full-scale portrait sketches helped in the work. Perhaps, as auxiliary material, the master used popular prints, which were circulated among ordinary people as a “fine newspaper.” The deeply national origins of the film are undeniable.
Simplicity, laconism, and deep exploration of the theme make Courbet’s canvas a notable milestone in the history of art. The artist himself called the “Funeral in Ornans” a historical scene. He meant that the subject of modern life, shown so realistically, deserves the same respect as other genres that were once considered sublime. This work can be considered as an artistic document of the era. One of his contemporaries, the critic Castagnari, said that the picture shows the bourgeoisie as it is “in full growth, with its oddities, ugliness and beauty.”
The plot of another painting, “Stone Crusher,” created in 1849, was observed by the artist in reality. He dared to make the theme of the painting an extreme expression of poverty, “modern slavery,” as his friend Proudhon would say. An old man crushes a stone, a boy with a basket in his hands pours rubble into a pile. Their clothes are poor, their shoes are worn out. The skin of the face and hands darkened and became rough from the sun and dust. The dull and monotonous work seemed to lull their consciousness.
The future does not promise anything good for them. That’s why Courbet shows people of two ages. The coloring of the painting, as can be judged from the reproductions (the work was lost in Dresden in 1945), is based on a single brown tone, which is not enlivened by anything. The colors are as dull as the environment and the people.
Courbet's paintings sounded, according to contemporaries, like a cannon shot. “The Artist of 1848,” as he called himself, raised a social issue in his art. During the years of reaction, it seemed unusual that subjects unthinkable for “great” art became favorites in his painting. On December 2, 1851, the Republic fell. And what? Visitors to the Salon are reminded of what they don’t want to know about, don’t want to remember. This is insolence! Courbet consciously went towards this. He believed that his paintings should become an expression of the revolutionary principles of humanistic painting. In 1851, he said: “I am a socialist, democrat, republican, in a word, a supporter of any revolution, moreover, I am also a realist, that is, a sincere friend of genuine truth.”
Paris. World Exhibition of 1855. Near its territory, Courbet is building a pavilion, which he called “Realism.” The fact is that the jury of the art department of the World Exhibition refused to accept a number of his works, relying on such masters as Ingres and Delacroix, associated with the traditions of romanticism. Realism was alien to the jury, and it agreed to exhibit only a few paintings by Courbet, abandoning the works that he considered the most important. And so the master from Ornan staged a kind of anti-exhibition, showing the public forty old and new canvases. The main attention was attracted by a huge canvas, six meters long and four meters high, called “The Artist’s Workshop”. However, it also had a second title: “Real Allegory.” What did the painter mean by this? Are allegories depicting abstract concepts real? Obviously, he did not strive to abandon the depiction of reality and did not want to go into the world of conventional images generated by the mythology of the ancients. The master comprehended a lot of life material related to creative practice. He called such a generalization an allegory, the meaning of which was fundamentally different from the allegories of classicist painting.
The thirty characters in the painting tell, as Courbet explained, “the moral and physical history of his workshop.” Therefore, the second title of this work sounds more complete: “A real allegory that defines the seven-year period of my artistic career.” But this seven-year period of the artist’s life opens with 1848. The revolution turned out to be decisive in the development of Courbet. Considering that the pavilion where the painting was shown was called “Realism,” we can say that he decided to make public his idea of how to create a realistic painting. In the preface to the catalog of his exhibition, the painter noted not only the importance of demonstrating “individuality in relation to traditions,” but also the requirement to create “living art.” “There are no other teachers except nature!” he exclaims.
The composition of the canvas is divided into three parts, each of which is to a certain extent independent, but all are connected by semantic unity. The artist’s workshop, where there is an easel with a painting, painting accessories are visible, and the works of the owner himself hang on the walls, is full of people. This interior shows the artist’s original autobiography in paint. In the center, Courbet depicted himself, confident and proud. He paints a landscape. The appearance of the area seems familiar - this is the artist’s native place in Franche-Comté. But the basis of his creative method is working directly from nature. What's the matter? The landscape symbolizes nature; the artist worshiped it alone. Next to him is the nude figure of a model with a beautiful pink drapery falling in waves to the floor: this is a kind of “muse” of realism. The work is watched by a village boy - the personification of direct perception of beauty. Behind the easel is a mannequin representing Saint Sebastian. The fact that he is shown in the shadow is, of course, no coincidence: the figure of the saint clearly signifies the traditions of academic art.
Courbet is decisively against them, and this can be clearly read in the picture. Next to the mannequin is a newspaper on which lies a skull - a common attribute of artists' workshops, necessary for studying anatomy. But the fact that it lies on the newspaper is not accidental. The bourgeois press of that time was, in the apt expression of O. Balzac, “cemeteries of ideas.”
On the sides of the canvas there are two groups. These are, as the author himself said, “my friends: workers and art lovers.” On the right are specific images, most of them are portraits. Here the viewer can see Baudelaire, personifying poetry, Proudhon, the “spirit of philosophy,” Chanfleury, the art critic who defended realism in the press, and the collector Bruas. A boy is seen sitting on the floor, drawing. This is the future of art. So, on the right, creativity, silence, and the world of reflection dominate.
It’s different in the opposite part of the picture, where symbols of poverty, wealth, labor, and religion are given. As Courbet himself emphasized, he depicted the exploited and the exploiters. All of them - a hunter, a farmer, a worker with his wife, a textile merchant, a poor Irish woman with a child - are presented in characteristic poses. Their gestures are varied and characteristic. But the figures are less connected to each other than on the right side of the picture, as if each character lives an independent life. It is possible that many had real prototypes. Thus, in two images one can discern the features of the critic Theophile Sylvester and the revolutionary Garibaldi. They personify an active life that has social significance; a realist artist should be interested in their fate.
The picture was painted quickly, in four months. Internally, the artist prepared for it longer. The need to clarify one’s own positions and pave the way to realism helped. Courbet was helped by previous works, portraits of Baudelaire, Chanfleury, Bruas, and sketches of his fellow countrymen. Like many artists of his time, he used photography. With her help, for example, a nude model was painted.
Courbet understood that the canvas “The Artist's Workshop” would cause a lot of controversy, and said: “People who want to judge all this will have quite a lot of work.” The master boldly introduced the viewer into the circle of his artistic quests. This composition, which summarized so many of the artist’s thoughts and feelings and proclaimed an innovative method in a great epic form, was preceded by other works. Among them, it is worth mentioning “Bathers,” which caused a scandal at the Salon of 1853, and “Meeting,” exhibited a year later. In “Bathers,” Courbet deliberately avoids any idealization, depicting on canvas the naked figure of a woman among the trees. The canvas “Meeting” also has another name: “Hello, Mr. Courbet!” It represents an artist who meets a good friend, the collector Bruas. Both pieces were shown together with The Workshop and The Funeral at Ornans in 1855.
The Realism Pavilion attracted the attention of the public and critics. Press reviews only strengthened the artist’s reputation, which was a mixture of “scandal and glory.” The main thing is that realism became popular, they talked about it, argued about it...
After the exhibition, Courbet went to Ornans and soon painted the painting “Girls on the Banks of the Seine,” where he showed fashionably dressed women relaxing in the shade of dense trees. In the composition “Return from the Parish Conference,” the master critically, almost caricaturedly presented the morals of the clergy, relying on the traditions of popular popular prints. This painting, of course, was not accepted into the Salon for its acute anti-clerical character; subsequently it was bought by a zealous Catholic specifically in order to destroy it.
By 1860, the situation in French art was changing decisively. A new generation of masters arrived, led by Manet and Whistler. In 1863, the Salon jury rejected so many paintings that the government decided to show them in a special exhibition. Many future innovators exhibited there.
Courbet closely followed the development of art. His name is synonymous with a decisive revolution in artistic tastes. In 1867 he reopened a separate pavilion. The artist’s paintings are exhibited in different cities of Europe in Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Munich. He has followers German artist Wilhelm Leibl, Hungarian Mihaly Munkacsi, Belgian Charles de Grue. The master’s art is changing noticeably, not everyone was able to understand these changes, many past associates and friends turned away from Courbet. But this does not depress him. He paints still lifes, nude figures, landscapes, and hunting scenes.
The war with Prussia complicated the political situation in France, in the pre-storm air of which the closeness of revolution was felt. On March 16, 1871, an uprising broke out in Paris. The reactionary ministers fled to Versailles. On March 28, the Commune was proclaimed. Courbet was elected a member. His beliefs are somewhat vague: following the petty-bourgeois socialism of Proudhon, he demands freedom of development of society, opposing the influence of state power. However, naive “anarchism” did not prevent him from actively participating in the activities of the Commune. Together with the critic Burti, he joined the commission that monitored the activities of “morally compromised” museum officials. He was against the removal of artistic treasures from the capital and called for protecting the property of the republic. His activity at that time is amazing. He worked for the good of society twelve hours a day, not only as a member of the Commune, but also as a delegate to the mayor's office. On his initiative, the Federation of Parisian Artists was created, uniting four hundred members. Courbet is its president. He addresses German soldiers and artists, calling them to brotherhood and peace. The artist understood that the real enemies were the French reactionaries who gathered at Versailles. He was present at the meeting of the Commune on the day when the Versaillese broke into the city. Their terror was terrible: people were shot in courtyards and on the streets.
After the defeat of the Commune, Courbet hid for some time with friends, but was arrested and imprisoned. The sketchbook shows the terrible scenes he witnessed. The “Execution” sketch is especially impressive. When the artist was kept in the Saint-Pélagie prison while awaiting trial, he again turned to paint. During the seventy-two days of the Commune he had no time to paint. And in general, during this short period of time, few artists were able to respond to the events. Only cartoons and posters were created. Now Courbet takes up his brushes. He paints a self-portrait. The sick, emaciated artist sits on the window sill of his cell. Behind the window bars you can see a courtyard with stunted trees. His face is sad, the dark brown clothes of the prisoner emphasize the general gloomy mood. On the door of his cell, Courbet painted a still life with flowers - what he would dream of seeing. Soon the trial took place. Courbet was sentenced to six months in prison and, most importantly, a huge fine, as he was accused of organizing the demolition of the Vendôme Column. The artist could not have had that kind of money. This was a treacherous move by his enemies; for failure to pay the fine, Courbet was subject to imprisonment in debtor's prison. His paintings were confiscated, his workshop in Ornans was destroyed, and there was no question of exhibiting.
Broken and sick, Courbet lived for some time with relatives in Ornans. The government insisted that the artist restore the Vendôme Column at his own expense. Courbet had only one option left - to run. And he, like Louis David, the artist of the Great French Revolution, once left his homeland and went to Switzerland. He lives in a circle of former communards who accepted him as one of their own. The master loses his strength: only occasionally does he take up his brushes and paint landscapes. One of them “Cabin in the Mountains” is kept in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.
On December 31, 1877, Courbet died. The artist’s ashes were transferred to his homeland only in 1919. It was a belated act of recognition. The name of Courbet is firmly entrenched in the history of French artistic culture, and moreover, of world art. He prepared the ground on which new painting grew. The traditions of his realism fertilized the advanced, democratic art of many countries.