Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the Romanticism of the previous generation of visual artists. His independence set an example that was important to later artists, such as the Impressionists and the Cubists. Courbet occupies an important place in 19th-century French painting as an innovator and as an artist willing to make bold social statements through his work.
Paintings by Gustave Courbet
The Painter's Studio (1850)
The Painter's Studio (French: L'Atelier du peintre; in full, The Painter's Studio: A real allegory summing up seven years of my artistic and moral life) is an 1855 oil-on-canvas painting by Gustave Courbet. It is located in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France.
Courbet painted The Painter's Studio in Ornans, France in 1855. "The world comes to be painted at my studio," said Courbet of the Realist work. The figures in the painting are allegorical representations of various influences on Courbet's artistic life. On the left are human figures from all levels of society. In the center, Courbet works on a landscape, while turned away from a nude model who is a symbol of Academic art. On the right are friends and associates of Courbet, mainly elite Parisian society figures, including Charles Baudelaire, Champfleury, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and Courbet's most prominent patron, Alfred Bruyas.
A Burial at Ornans (1841)
A Burial at Ornans (French: Un enterrement à Ornans, also known as A Funeral at Ornans) is a painting of 1849–50 by Gustave Courbet. It is widely regarded as a major turning point in 19th-century French art. The painting records a funeral in Courbet's birthplace, the small town of Ornans. It treats an ordinary, provincial funeral with frank realism, and on the grand scale traditionally reserved for the heroic or religious scenes of history painting. Its exhibition at the 1850–51 Paris Salon created an "explosive reaction" and brought Courbet instant fame. It is currently displayed at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France. It underwent conservation treatment led by Cinzia Pasquali in 2026.
Courbet likely drew inspiration from two different types of sources. One is seventeenth-century Dutch group portraits, such as Banquet of Captain Bicker (1648), Company of Captain Allaert Cloek (1632), or Meagre Company (1637). The other is woodcuts from the 1830s and 40s such as Souvenir Mortuaire (1830), featuring an elevated cross and a grave digger the left, and Degrés des Âges (1830), depicting individuals in a semicircle around a scene of death. While these all likely had an impact on the creation of the painting, Courbet scholar Gerstle Mack claims that the original inspiration for the painting most likely came from the funeral of Oudot, Courbet's grandfather, who had died a year before he created the painting. According to another theory, the painting is based on a funeral for a member of the Proudhon family; Courbet was close with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and some of the figures in Burial are said to resemble members of the family. Courbet made a sketch prior to the final work, and the people of Ornans posed as models.
L'Origine du monde (1866)
L'Origine du monde (French pronunciation: [lɔʁiʒin dy mɔ̃d], "The Origin of the World") is a picture painted in oil on canvas by the French painter Gustave Courbet in 1866. It is a close-up view of the vulva and abdomen of a naked woman, lying on a bed with legs spread.
Art historians have speculated for years that Courbet's model for L'Origine du monde was his favourite model, Joanna Hiffernan, also known as Jo. Her lover at the time was the American painter James Whistler, a friend of Courbet.
Le Sommeil (1866)
Le Sommeil (translated in English variously as The Sleepers and Sleep) is an erotic oil painting on canvas by French artist Gustave Courbet created in 1866. The painting, which depicts a female couple, is also known as The Two Friends (Les Deux Amies) and Indolence and Lust (Paresse et Luxure).
Le Sommeil was originally commissioned by the Turkish diplomat and art collector of the late Ottoman era, Halil Şerif Paşa, who had lived in Paris since 1860. The painting was not permitted to be shown publicly until 1988, like a number of Courbet's other works such as L'Origine du monde. When Le Sommeil was exhibited by a picture dealer in 1872, it became the subject of a police report. One of the models for the painting was Joanna Hiffernan, who was the mistress of fellow painter James Abbott Whistler at the time. Whistler's relationship with Hiffernan ended soon afterwards, and his opinion of Courbet soured.
Woman with a Parrot (Courbet) (1866)
La Femme au perroquet (Woman with a Parrot) is an oil painting on canvas by French artist Gustave Courbet. It was the first nude by the artist to be accepted by the Paris Salon in 1866 after a previous entry in 1864 was rejected as indecent. It is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York city.
The painting shows a woman reclining on her back, with a pet parrot alighting on an outstretched hand. While painted in a style to gain Academy acceptance in its pose and smooth flesh tones, the model's discarded clothes and disheveled hair were controversial, although less so than Le Sommeil, painted the same year. Joanna Hiffernan likely posed for both paintings, as she did for others by Courbet.
The Woman in the Waves (1868)
The Woman in the Waves (French - La Femme à la vague) is an 1868 painting by the French Realist painter Gustave Courbet, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The Stone Breakers (1850)
The Stone Breakers (French: Les Casseurs de pierres), also known as Stonebreakers, was an 1849 oil painting on canvas by the French painter Gustave Courbet. Now destroyed, the image remains an often-cited example of the artistic movement Realism.
The painting was exhibited at the 1850 Paris Salon where it was criticized by for its depiction of a subject that was not considered proper for high art. Some critics disliked Courbet's application of very thick paint and the poor lighting in the image. Conversely, social theorist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon praised the work and saw it as a successful socialist painting. He called the composition "a masterpiece in its genre". By 1915, it was considered to be a very "important work".
The Meeting (Courbet) (1854)
The Meeting or "Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet" (French: La rencontre, ou "Bonjour Monsieur Courbet") is an oil-on-canvas painting by Gustave Courbet, made in 1854. It depicts the artist on his way to Montpellier meeting his patron Alfred Bruyas, his servant Calas, and his dog Breton. One of Courbet's most popular works, it also serves as one of the artist's most emblematic contributions to the 19th-century movement of Realism. The composition is based on the myth of the Wandering Jew.
The Meeting was commissioned by Alfred Bruyas, the son of a Montpellier banker who chose to employ his wealth in art patronage. His relationship with Courbet first began with his purchases of The Bathers (1853) and The Sleeping Spinner (1853) at the Salon of 1853 in Paris. Bruyas viewed Courbet as the means of achieving his "Solution" in art. What Bruyas meant by his Solution is left vague; he defined it in an 1858 as "a Painting [sic] bringing all things together through its wonderful poetry". His writings also associated it with the realization of social progress through simple, natural depictions of reality.
Young Ladies Beside the Seine (Summer) (1857)
Young Ladies Beside the Seine (Summer) (French - Les Demoiselles des bords de la Seine (été)) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French Realist Gustave Courbet, created between late 1856 and early 1857. It is held in the Petit Palais, in Paris.
He presented it to the Paris Salon jury, which accepted it and exhibited it on 15 June 1857, with five other paintings of his authorship, two portraits and three landscapes.
The Wheat Sifters (1854)
The Wheat Sifters (Les Cribleuses de Blé) is an oil-on-canvas painting created in 1854 by the French Realist painter Gustave Courbet in his hometown of Ornans.
Painted during the winter of 1853-1854, the work depicts three figures engaged in the act of winnowing, or sifting grain. The central figure, seen from behind, operates a large circular sieve. Behind her, to the left, another woman sits cross-legged and reclining as she sorts grain by hand. On the right, a young boy peers into a tarare, an early mechanical device used to clean grain.
The Wounded Man (painting) (1854)
The Wounded Man (French: L'Homme blessé) is an oil-on-canvas self-portrait created between 1844 and 1854 by the French Realist painter Gustave Courbet. In it, Courbet depicts himself in a romantic theme as a suffering, heroic man. Originally, the composition featured a woman leaning on the artist's shoulder. Sometime before May 1854, Courbet replaced her with a sword, and added a red bloodstain on his shirt. Courbet's decision to depict himself as a wounded man may have arisen from his distress at the dissolution, circa 1851, of his 14-year relationship with Virginie Binet, with whom he had a son.
Killing a Deer (1867)
Killing a Deer or A Deer Hunt – The Kill (French: L'Hallali du cerf), is a very large painting (355 by 505 cm) representing a hunting scene, completed in 1867 by the French Realist painter Gustave Courbet. The picture is currently on display in the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie of Besançon.
The painting was done during the winter of 1866–1867. It is in the large format newly adopted by Courbet, as also in A Burial at Ornans and The Artist's Studio. The work was exhibited at the French art salons and academies of 1869. The picture caused some scandal, major formats being previously reserved for noble history paintings rather than hunting scenes.