“All I have tried to do is to derive, from a complete knowledge of tradition,
a reasoned sense of my own independence and individuality.”
This quote by Gustave Courbet really demonstrates how important he is for western modern art. By
wanting to apply the enlightenment values of individuality and freedom to his art,
he shocked and angered many of his contemporaries.
This desire to both affirm his individuality and demonstrate his freedom to do so,
pushed him to sometimes be outright provocative. In 1865,
the art world was scandalized by the vulgarity of Edouard Manet’s Olympia. Only a year later,
in 1866, Courbet painted The Origin of the World. Now that’s provocation.
Here, there’s no idealization. Courbet was one of the founders of what is now called realism.
He painted things as he saw them. He didn’t idealize them or painted them as the academic
art world wanted him to; he painted reality, no matter how cruel, sad or pathetic it can be.
In 1855, three of his paintings were refused at the Exposition Universelle in Paris and,
cherishing independence, Courbet decided to open his own gallery which he called
“The Pavilion of Realism” where he exposed his refused paintings.
One of these paintings was his famous A Burial at Ornans, which we will cover in
a future video, but, for now, I’d like to focus on a second painting which
was also refused at the Exposition Universelle: The Painter’s Studio.
It’s a huge, life-size painting measuring 359 by 598 cm. You see an artist in the centre,
painting a landscape and surrounded by different figures, but there’s more to it than just that.
We know, from the title of the painting that this is a painter’s studio, but this artwork
also has a subtitle: A real allegory summing up seven years of my artistic and moral life.
So we understand now that this isn’t only a self-portrait in a studio,
but a painted autobiography.
This autobiography is filled with contradictions,
tensions and oppositions. The first one being in the subtitle itself : A real allegory.
The painting is also separated in three different parts: Gustave Courbet in the centre
and two groups, both on the left and on the right. Courbet is painting a landscape and is accompanied
by a kid and a naked woman. The meanings of both figures are up for debate. The kid could symbolize
the future and Courbet’s avant-garde spirit, while the woman could represent a rejection
of academic art, showing her, not as an idealized nude, but how she truly looks.
Between the two adjacent groups are important differences. Firstly, on Courbet’s right,
we can see his friends, his followers and supporters. We see Champfleury, an art critic,
Alfred Bruyas, an important art collector and friend of Courbet, Charles Baudelaire,
an extremely influential French poet and, finally, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
an anarchist philosopher who had a tremendous impact on Courbet’s moral and political opinions.
“On the right, all the shareholders, by that I mean friends, fellow workers,
art lovers. On the left is the other world of everyday life, the masses, wretchedness, poverty,
wealth, the exploited and the exploiters, people who make a living from death".
This is what Courbet saw as his detractors, or at least what’s wrong in this world. This side
is a political statement. The strongest statement made here is through the representation of the
poacher and his two dogs. This is believed to be Napoleon III, recognizable by his twirly moustache
and his love for hunting dogs. Courbet doesn’t recognize the emperor’s political legitimacy and
representing him as a poacher, or a thief, is very telling. This side also depicts poverty,
notably through the woman in rags feeding her child in the shadows. There’s, on top of her,
a mannequin which was normally used by academic painters. Courbet refused to paint
from mannequins. After all, he was a realist; he wanted to paint what he saw. The mannequin
is therefore hidden in the shadows behind the artwork and it’s crucified, as if Courbet decided
to not only ignore it, but kill it. Academic art was, from now on, a thing of the past.
Courbet’s quest to express his own independence and individuality leads to this painting. His
independence was expressed by exposing a painting of his own studio in his
own pavilion. His individuality was not only expressed through a self-portrait, but through
several portraits of people who influenced his artistic and political life. On top of that,
he voices his political opinions by denouncing emperors and the fate of impoverished people;
but he also voices his artistic opinions by opposing the conservative art world and by
underlining the importance of the artist’s role in the making of their art. By infusing
his art with his individuality, Courbet was a pioneer and he inspired later modern
artists to use their own personality to express themselves and innovate.
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The Painter’s Studio, along with A Burial at Ornans, The Desperate Man,
The Origin of the World and The Stone Breakers, are some of Gustave Courbet’s
most famous paintings. The Painter’s Studio has, among all these enumerated paintings,
has a significant importance in Courbet’s life as it is, as the title of the video suggests,
a painted autobiography. Here, he makes a great display of individuality and
independence by voicing his artistic and political opinions and influences.