Gustav Courbet

Happy Birthday Gustav Courbet!! Although Gustav Courbet was born at the “right time” for Impressionistic influence in 1819, and he knew Monet personally, the painter missed it when he fled France in 1873. He was a Realist; realism bridged the gap between Romanticism and Impressionism. He primarily painted landscapes and genre scenes, he also did some risqué paintings of nudes and couples, at least one of which was not shown publicly until the late 1980’s. Courbet was considered an innovative artist, using his art to put forth his social commentary, as well as writing essays on democratic and social ideas. When three of his paintings were rejected in 1855 at the Exposition Universelle, he created his own showing of forty paintings in a temporary “salon” including the Artist’s Studio shown below. Of this painting, Courbet says he depicts his life, friends on the left surround him with the model in the center and foes and antagonists on the right.