Dream in art. The incredible versatility of sleep

, France

Story

The painting “Sleepers” was commissioned by the Turkish diplomat and collector of the late Ottoman era, Khalil Pasha, who lived in Paris from 1860. The painting was not allowed to be displayed until 1988. A number of other works by Gustave Courbet were subject to the same ban - for example, the canvas “The Origin of the World”, in which close-up a female vulva is depicted. The owner of this painting was also originally Khalil Pasha. When Sleepers was exhibited in 1872 art gallery, they became the subject of a police report. One of the sitters for this painting was Joanna Hiffernan, who was serving as a model for James Whistler at the time. She was also Whistler's lover, but after The Sleepers their relationship came to an end, and Whistler's opinion of Courbet deteriorated.

Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian History and Culture describes "Sleepers" as famous work in painting. This picture had big influence on art XIX century: after the public display of “Sleepers,” some artists of the time were inspired by the depiction of a lesbian couple. Repetition of this theme helped reduce the number of taboos associated with lesbian relationships.

Today the painting is part of the collection of the Petit Palais in Paris.

Description

The painting depicts two sleeping naked women, apparently lesbians. They lie in bed, hugging each other. To the viewer's left is a woman with brown hair lying on her back. Both of her legs are shown in profile, with her right leg hugging a second blonde woman, and her left leg pointing towards her vagina. The face of a sleeping blonde is turned to a brunette. On her hip, she supports the dark-haired girl's leg with her left hand. The center of the canvas is occupied by the brunette’s buttocks. There is a direct hint about their rest after sexual intercourse. Near the feet of the sleeping people one can see some jewelry (a hairpin, a necklace) thrown on a white bed. Another hint to passionate relationship is a torn necklace. U right hand of the brunette, part of the dress is visible. The background is a dark blue curtain. To the right of the bed there is a table on which stands a yellow vase with bright flowers. On the left is a glass, a jug and a crystal vase located on the cabinet oriental style. In the lower right corner the painting is signed “G. Courbet 66.”

Analysis

The canvas was written under the impression of Charles Baudelaire’s poem “Cursed Women (Hippolyta and Delphine)” on a lesbian theme, from the collection “Flowers of Evil” (1857). The painting "Sleepers" has been interpreted as good example realism in painting. It was noted that naked bodies written without embellishment, preserving shortcomings. According to some critics, this painting flawlessly reveals the erotic style.

Write a review on the article "Sleepers (painting by Courbet)"

Notes

Links

• (French). Parisian Petit Palais. Retrieved October 5, 2015.

Excerpt characterizing the Sleepers (painting by Courbet)

In contrast to Kutuzov, at the same time, in an event even more important than the retreat of the army without a fight, in the abandonment of Moscow and its burning, Rostopchin, who appears to us as the leader of this event, acted completely differently.
This event - the abandonment of Moscow and its burning - was as inevitable as the retreat of the troops without a fight for Moscow after the Battle of Borodino.
Every Russian person, not on the basis of conclusions, but on the basis of the feeling that lies in us and lay in our fathers, could have predicted what happened.
Starting from Smolensk, in all the cities and villages of the Russian land, without the participation of Count Rastopchin and his posters, the same thing happened that happened in Moscow. The people blithely waited for the enemy, did not rebel, did not worry, did not tear anyone to pieces, but calmly awaited their fate, feeling the strength within themselves to the fullest. Hard time find what was supposed to do. And as soon as the enemy approached, the richest elements of the population left, leaving their property; the poorest remained and set fire and destroyed what was left.
The consciousness that it will be so, and will always be so, lay and lies in the soul of the Russian person. And this consciousness and, moreover, the premonition that Moscow would be taken, lay in the Russian Moscow society of the 12th year. Those who began to leave Moscow back in July and early August showed that they were expecting this. Those who left with what they could seize, leaving their houses and half their property, acted this way due to that latent patriotism, which is expressed not by phrases, not by killing children to save the fatherland, etc. by unnatural actions, but which is expressed imperceptibly, simply, organically and therefore always produces the most powerful results.
“It is a shame to run from danger; only cowards are fleeing Moscow,” they were told. Rastopchin in his posters inspired them that leaving Moscow was shameful. They were ashamed to be called cowards, they were ashamed to go, but they still went, knowing that it was necessary. Why were they going? It cannot be assumed that Rastopchin frightened them with the horrors that Napoleon produced in the conquered lands. They left, and the rich were the first to leave, educated people, who knew very well that Vienna and Berlin remained intact and that there, during their occupation by Napoleon, the inhabitants had fun with the charming Frenchmen, whom Russian men and especially ladies loved so much at that time.
They traveled because for the Russian people there could be no question: whether it would be good or bad under the rule of the French in Moscow. It was impossible to be under French control: that was the worst thing. They left before the Battle of Borodino, and even faster after the Battle of Borodino, despite appeals for protection, despite statements by the commander-in-chief of Moscow about his intention to raise Iverskaya and go to fight, and to the balloons that were supposed to destroy the French, and despite all that nonsense that Rastopchin talked about in his posters. They knew that the army had to fight, and that if it couldn’t, then they couldn’t go to the Three Mountains with the young ladies and servants to fight Napoleon, but that they had to leave, no matter how sorry it was to leave their property to destruction. They left and did not think about the majestic significance of this huge, rich capital, abandoned by the inhabitants and, obviously, burned (a large abandoned wooden city had to burn); they left each for themselves, and at the same time, only because they left, that magnificent event took place, which will forever remain the best glory of the Russian people. That lady who, back in June, with her araps and firecrackers, rose from Moscow to the Saratov village, with a vague consciousness that she was not Bonaparte’s servant, and with fear that she would not be stopped on the orders of Count Rastopchin, did simply and truly that great the case that saved Russia. Count Rostopchin, who either shamed those who were leaving, then took away public places, then gave out useless weapons to drunken rabble, then raised images, then forbade Augustine to take out relics and icons, then seized all the private carts that were in Moscow, then one hundred and thirty-six carts carried away by Leppich balloon, then hinted that he would burn Moscow, then told how he burned down his house and wrote a proclamation to the French, where he solemnly reproached them for ruining him orphanage; either accepted the glory of burning Moscow, then renounced it, then ordered the people to catch all the spies and bring them to him, then reproached the people for this, then expelled all the French from Moscow, then left Madame Aubert Chalmet in the city, who formed the center of the entire French Moscow population , and without much guilt he ordered the old venerable postal director Klyucharyov to be captured and taken into exile; either he gathered people to the Three Mountains to fight the French, then, in order to get rid of these people, he gave them a person to kill and he himself left for the back gate; either he said that he would not survive the misfortune of Moscow, or he wrote poems in French in albums about his participation in this matter - this man did not understand the significance of the event that was taking place, but just wanted to do something himself, to surprise someone, to do something patriotically heroic and, like a boy, he frolicked over the majestic and inevitable event of the abandonment and burning of Moscow and tried with his small hand to either encourage or delay the flow of the huge stream of people that carried him away with it.

For most men, there is nothing more erotic, touching and defenseless than a sleeping woman (unless she snores, of course). An awakened woman is also beautiful, sometimes.

Giorgione "Sleeping Venus", 1510.

This “Sleeping Venus” is considered one of the most standard female images Renaissance, with countless repetitions and variations. Giorgione did not finish it, and Titian was already finishing it.

Henri Gervais "Rolla", 1878

And this is my favorite painting on this topic - at the Paris Salon of 1878 they refused to exhibit it, considering it indecent and violating public morals. Moreover, according to the organizers of the salon, the indecency of the picture lay not in the fact that a naked woman was sleeping on the bed, but in the fact that a pile of linen and clothes was carelessly dumped on the floor and in the chair. And everyone immediately understood that the woman did not undress herself, but the man undressed her.

Gustave Courbet "Sleepers", 1866

“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 what Alexander Dumas the son wrote about the author of this picture, which literally blew up bourgeois Europe in the second half of the 19th century centuries: two naked women sleep in an embrace on a white sheet that has become a mess, and a torn pearl necklace only enhances the feeling of the previous scene of lesbian love. I haven't seen this one, but I condemn it.

Friedrich von Amerling "The Sleeping Fisherwoman", 1834

When a woman sleeps, she is defenseless and touching, like a child. And when she sleeps with the child, it is doubly touching.

"Sleeping Girl", 1620. Unknown artist(presumably Domenico Fetti)

In a dream, a woman is usually silent, which cannot but rejoice. What if a woman dreams beautiful dreams, then she is not only silent, but also happy. This sleeping girl is smiling, and the painting is considered one of the earliest interpretations of a woman's happy dream.

Luis Ricardo Falero "Reclining Nude", 1879

And this picture shows us what lustful dreams women sometimes have.

Leon Francois Commer "Danae or the Golden Shower", 1908

Here is a scene from ancient greek mythology- when the king ancient greek city Argos Acrisius learned from the oracle that he was destined to die at the hands of the son of his daughter Danae, so he imprisoned her in a dungeon. Zeus, however, penetrated Danae (and into Danae) in the form of golden rain, after which she gave birth to Perseus.

Fabio Fabbi "Odalist", 1898

It is unlikely that a “golden shower” in the form of the Sultan will penetrate into this odalisque - usually the concubines in the harem have never seen the Sultan himself.

Sergey Marshennikov “Bracelet”

Judging by the bracelet and the unbuttoned but not removed dress, the heroine of this picture fell asleep after the March 8 celebration. After such an awakening, questions usually flash like a kaleidoscope in women’s eyes: “Where am I? Who are you? And what happened yesterday? Yes it is clear that...

Theodore Chasserio "Sleeping Nymph", 1850

Even the most moralists never had any particular complaints about the image of a naked sleeping woman - it was believed that when a woman sleeps, she is not aware of her nakedness, just as Adam and Eve were not aware of it before the Fall, and therefore this nakedness is sinless.
Oh?

Gustave Courbet's painting "Sleeping Nega and Voluptuousness" was painted in 1866 by order of a diplomat from Ottoman Empire. The artist captured two sleeping naked women: a brunette and a blonde, hugging each other. Female figures unfolded so that their breasts, hips and buttocks are most visible.
It is obvious that the artist depicted lesbians. The traditional idea of ​​morality and morality did not allow this painting to be appreciated; it was hidden for a long time in private collections and was exhibited to the general public only at the end of the twentieth century and recognized as a property European art. Researchers note the high artistic value of the canvas, noting that it was the beginning of the development of a new, realistic direction in painting.

GREAT offer from the BigArtShop online store: buy a painting of Sleeping Pleasure and Voluptuousness by artist Gustave Courbet on natural canvas in high resolution, decorated in a stylish framing frame, at an ATTRACTIVE price.

Painting by Gustave Courbet Sleeping Pleasure and Voluptuousness: description, biography of the artist, customer reviews, other works of the author. Large catalog of paintings by Gustave Courbet on the website of the BigArtShop online store.

The BigArtShop online store presents a large catalog of paintings by the artist Gustave Courbet. You can choose and buy your favorite reproductions of paintings by Gustave Courbet on natural canvas.

Outstanding French painter, sculptor, public figure, representative and theorist of realism, one of the predecessors of impressionism. Gustave Courbet was born into a peasant family who had his own vineyards. He envisioned a legal education for his son. At the insistence of his father, Gustave entered college in Besançon, 25 km from Ornans. By at will attended classes at the Academy, took painting lessons from Charles-Antoine Flajoulot, who in turn was a student famous artist France Jacques-Louis David. In 1939 he moved to Paris, also promising his father that he would study law there.

Instead, he began studying in the art workshops of Charles de Steben, then moved to work in the Suisse workshop, where students were given complete freedom in their artistic pursuits. It was this style of teaching that suited Gustave best. In his work, he followed the direction of extreme realism, considering the only true art to convey the prose of life.

As a result, despite the fact that his works were repeatedly rejected by the jury of various exhibitions, he became the head of the realistic school that arose in France and spread from there to other countries.

Courbet is also known as a public figure.

In 1871, Courbet joined the Paris Commune and ruled under it. public museums, was Commissioner for Culture and led the overthrow of the Vendôme Column. After the fall of the Commune, the court sentenced him to prison, where he spent six months, and was later sentenced to contribute to the costs of restoring the column he destroyed. This forced him to retire to Switzerland, where he died in poverty in 1877.

The texture of the canvas, high-quality paints and large-format printing allow our reproductions of Gustave Courbet to be as good as the original. The canvas will be stretched on a special stretcher, after which the painting can be framed in the baguette of your choice.

Jean Desire Gustave Courbet

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. One of the largest artists in France during the 19th century, a key figure in French realism.

Gustave Courbet was born in 1819 in Ornans, a town with a population of about three thousand people located in Franche-Comté, 25 km from Besançon, near the Swiss border. His father, Regis Courbet, owned vineyards near Ornans. In 1831 future artist began attending seminary in Ornans.

It is alleged that his behavior was so contrary to what was expected of a seminarian that no one would undertake to absolve him of his sins (see also). One way or another, in 1837, at the insistence of his father, Courbet entered the Collage Royal in Besançon, which, as his father hoped, would prepare him for further legal education. Simultaneously with his studies at college, Courbet 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 he went to Paris, promising his father that he would study law there. In Paris, Courbet became acquainted with the art collection of the Louvre. His work, especially his early work, was subsequently greatly influenced by the small Dutch and spanish artists, especially Velazquez, from whom he borrowed the general dark tones of the paintings. Courbet did not study law, but instead began studying in art workshops, primarily with Charles de Steuben.

He then refused to receive formal art education and began working in the workshops of Suisse and Lyapin. There were no special classes in Suisse's workshop; students had to depict nudes, and their artistic searches were not limited. This teaching style suited Courbet well.

Representative and theorist of realism. He visited the studio of K. Steuben in Paris, but as an artist he formed mainly on his own. The democratic orientation of Courbet's work was largely determined by revolutionary events 1848, which he witnessed.

He was influenced by D. Velazquez, Rembrandt, F. Hals. Having gone through a short stage of closeness to romanticism (a series of self-portraits, etc.), Courbet polemically opposed it (as well as academic classicism) with a new type of art, affirming the material significance of the world, created monumental works imbued with realistic pathos (“Afternoon at Ornans”, 1849, Museum fine arts, Lille; “Funeral at Ornans”, 1849-50, Louvre; “Country Ladies”, 1851, Metropolitan Museum of Art). Courbet addressed the theme of labor that glorifies man (“Stone Crusher,” 1849, not preserved), created socially critical works (“Return of the curé from the parish conference,” not preserved, sketch, 1862, Public Art Collection, Basel).

The artist put into practice the advanced modern art criticism(P. J. Proudhon, J. Chanfleury) the principle of the social significance of art (“Meeting” (“Hello, Monsieur Courbet!”), 1854, Fabre Museum, Montpellier, and “Atelier”, 1855, Louvre, - allegorical compositions, in which Courbet imagined himself surrounded by the characters of his paintings and friends).

Some of Courbet's works showed features of salon art (“The Source”, 1868, Louvre). Courbet's painting style is distinguished by its tangible tangibility, clear brushstroke texture, restrained, sometimes harsh coloring, based on soft gradations of tones. Courbet’s landscapes are imbued with a sense of the strict grandeur and materiality of nature (“The Sea off the Coast of Normandy”, 1867, Pushkin Museum). An active participant in the Paris Commune of 1871, accused of overthrowing the Vendôme Column and persecuted by the reactionary government, Courbet emigrated to Switzerland in 1873.

Paintings

The origin of the world

There is a version that the painting was commissioned by Khalil Bey, a Turkish diplomat, former ambassador Ottoman Empire in Athens and St. Petersburg, who lived at that time in Paris.

Sainte-Beuve introduced him to Courbet, and Khalil Bey commissioned the painting to add to his collection of erotic paintings, which already included The Turkish Bath and The Sleepers, for which Hiffernan is believed to have been one of the sitters. After bankruptcy, he sells his collection. This is where it begins full of adventure odyssey of the canvas.

In 1868, the painting came to the hands of 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.

After Lacan's death in 1981, the French Minister of Finance agreed to transfer the painting to the Musée d'Orsay as payment of inheritance taxes, formalities were finally settled in 1995. 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 Origin of the World" refers to dual nature female genital organ: on the one hand, the object of sexual desire and the point of entry during copulation, on the other hand, the place of exit at birth, from where the child first sees the world into which he finds himself. Female genitals are conceptualized as the birthplace of people, making knowledge of the world possible. IN figuratively the picture symbolizes the Origin of the being, appearance and perception of the human world.

During the painting, Courbet's favorite model was Joanna Hiffernan (Jo). Her lover at that time was James Whistler, an American painter and student of Courbet.

Courbet painted another painting in 1866 - “The Beautiful Irishwoman (Portrait of Jo)”, which depicts Joanna Hiffernan. During his life, Courbet painted four portraits of Joe.

The painting has not been shown to the general public for more than 120 years.

The picture remains provocative today, despite the change in moral standards since 1866. At the Orsay Museum, a guard is assigned to the painting to observe the public's reaction.

With the sleepers

An erotic painting by French realist artist Gustave Courbet, painted in 1866. Also known by the titles “Two Friends” and “Sloth and Lust.” Currently kept in the Petit Palais in Paris.

The painting depicts two sleeping naked women, apparently lesbians. They lie in bed, hugging each other. To the viewer's left is a woman with brown hair lying on her back. Both of her legs are shown in profile, with her right leg hugging a second blonde woman, and her left leg pointing towards her vagina. The face of the sleeping blonde is turned to the brunette. On her hip, she supports the dark-haired girl's leg with her left hand.

The canvas was written under the impression of Charles Baudelaire’s poem “Cursed Women (Hippolyta and Delphine)” on a lesbian theme, from the collection “Flowers of Evil” (1857). The painting "Sleepers" has been interpreted as a good example of realism in painting. It was noted that the nudes were painted without embellishment, with flaws preserved. According to some critics, this painting flawlessly reveals an erotic style.

The painting “Sleeping” was commissioned by the Turkish diplomat and collector of the end of the Ottoman Empire, Khalil Pasha, who lived in Paris from 1860. The painting was not allowed to be displayed until 1988. A number of other works by Gustave Courbet were subject to the same ban - for example, the canvas “The Origin of the World,” which depicts a woman’s vulva in close-up. The owner of this painting was also originally Khalil Pasha. When The Sleepers was exhibited in an art gallery in 1872, it became the subject of a police report. One of the sitters for this painting was Joanna Hiffernan, who at that time served as a model for James Whistler. She was also Whistler's lover, but after The Sleepers their relationship came to an end, and Whistler's opinion of Courbet deteriorated.

The Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian History and Culture describes The Sleepers as a famous work of art. This painting had a great influence on the art of the 19th century: after the public exhibition of “The Sleepers”, some artists of that time were inspired by the image of a lesbian couple. Repeating this theme helped reduce the taboos associated with lesbian relationships.

Today the painting is part of the collection of the Petit Palais in Paris.

Artist's workshop

Painting by Gustave Courbet from 1855. Full name – “Artist’s Workshop. A true allegory of seven years of my creative and moral life" Begun in late 1854, the painting was completed within six weeks.

Courbet made this gigantic canvas the central exhibit of his “Pavilion of Realism”, which he arranged as a counterbalance to the official exhibition French painting at the World Exhibition of 1855. The second title of this painting: “A real allegory characterizing the seven-year period of my creative life" Thus, it can be partly considered self-promotion of the artist.

In the center of the composition we see the artist himself, painting a landscape. His work is observed by a nude model and a little boy. Courbet wrote about the figures standing on the right in a letter to Champfleury: “These are people who share my ideas; they deserve to live.” Among them are Champfleury, Bruyat, Proudhon and Baudelaire. The figures on the left “are worthy of death; it is suffering, poverty, luxury, the exploited and the exploiters.” Despite the detailed auto-explanations, this work has plenty of mysteries. Courbet kept something back, doing it deliberately. “Happy will he be,” he exclaimed in the same letter, “who can solve this riddle!”

Recreating Courbet's work

The figures depicted in the picture are located in a vast darkened space in such a way that it is impossible not only to establish their relationships, but even to understand whether they suspect each other’s existence. The motivation for this is given in the second title of the work - not “real scene”, but “allegory of reality”. All the characters appear here only to somehow describe and explain the artist’s work. They are presented in the form of a “live scoreboard,” a popular game at that time. It was played like this - the participants wore theatrical costumes and froze in the poses they chose, depicting “ living picture”, the meaning of which the audience had to guess.

Reviving this static composition, Courbet skillfully manipulates light and shadow. Since the atmosphere of the picture is quite gloomy and sad, the artist makes the main light fall through the hole in the back, and places an additional light source on the right. Courbet combines scattered portraits into groups, rhythmically alternating light and shadow and placing the heads of those standing along one line.

Woman with a parrot

(French La Femme au perroquet, English Woman with a Parrot) - painting painted in 1866 French artist Gustave Courbet (1819-1877). Belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Encouraged by the success of Alexandre Cabanel's The Birth of Venus, presented at the Paris Salon in 1863, Courbet wanted to repeat it with his own painting of the nude female body. He failed in 1864, when his painting Venus and Psyche was rejected by the jury. Two years later, Courbet presented a new painting, “Woman with a Parrot,” which went through a strict jury selection and was exhibited at the 1866 Paris Salon.

In the spring of 1870, the artist sold the painting for 15,000 francs to Jules Bordet. In April 1898, the painting was purchased for 20,000 francs by the famous Marchand Paul Durand-Ruel, who immediately resold it for $15,000 to New York entrepreneur and collector Henry Osborne Havemeyer and his wife Louisine Havemeyer. After Havemeyer's death in 1907, the painting remained with his wife, and after her death in 1929, according to her will, it was transferred to the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Funeral in Ornans

Un enterrement? Ornans

Large-format painting, painted in 1849-1850.

On the canvas, Courbet placed about fifty life-size figures. Plot taken from Everyday life, turns into an epic dedicated to the morals, customs, and characters of the French province. Here you can see the mayor, the notary, the priest, the entire church parable, neighbors, friends, and relatives of the author.

The painting was presented at the Paris Salon of 1851 and caused a very strong reaction from viewers and critics. Mainly, the majority of those who spoke out believed that an ordinary rural funeral was not worthy of such a large-scale canvas. Many people mocked the picture.

When Courbet began to compose his work on canvas, he developed a monumental plan. "IN currently“, he writes, “I compose my picture on canvas. I not only received funeral clothes from the priest, but even persuaded him to pose, as well as the vicar. I had two completely ridiculous conversations with him about morals and philosophical topics. I had to rest for a few days after the painting I had just made: my head couldn’t stand it anymore. All Ornanians consider it an honor to appear in the “Funeral.”
And indeed, many were eager to get into the picture. “I thought of doing without two singers,” Courbet recalled, “but it didn’t work out... They complained, saying that they had never done anything bad to me, so I had to write the singers too.”

Courbet's realism was also expressed in the fact that he focused on the process of burying a person, and not on his actions or on the posthumous fate of his soul, as was done before.
At the same time, the identity of the deceased remains anonymous here, turning into collective image of death. This makes the painting a modernized version of a very popular plot in the Middle Ages, called the Danse Macabre. The jury accepted 11 paintings by Courbet for the 1855 World Exhibition, but “Funeral at Ornans” was rejected.

S sleeping naked

Nude Reclining Woman

1865

Sources – Wikipedia, enc-dic.com, people.su, fun-space.ru, impressionnisme.narod.ru.

“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 he would say great writer after seeing 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 scandalous picture was in private collection, now it is exhibited in the Orsay Museum. There is still a security guard assigned to her, designed to prevent a violent reaction from the audience.

Gustave Courbet 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 creativity gave rise to high-profile 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. Especially strong impression Small Dutch and Spanish artists, especially Velazquez, produced him. 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 wrote a large number of self-portraits, visited Ornan several times, traveled to Belgium and the Netherlands, where he established contacts with painting sellers. One of the buyers of his works was 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 such paintings famous masters, How Eugene Delacroix and Theodore Rousseau. In 1871, Courbet joined the Paris Commune, managed its public museums and led the overthrow of the Vendôme Column ( famous symbol 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 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 dark silhouette the black fold-eared spaniel stands out. 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)

Click on the image to go to viewing mode

The painting was conceived and partially painted before 1849, during one of the artist’s visits to 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)

Click on the image to go to viewing mode

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 a plot. new painting, invited both of them to his studio the next morning and since then I have been working on the painting... on one side of the canvas there is a seventy-year-old man; he is bent over his work, his hammer is raised up, his skin is tanned, his head is shaded straw hat, trousers made of coarse fabric are all in patches, heels stick out from 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. Bare sides and shoulders are visible through a greasy, tattered shirt, leather suspenders hold up what were once pants, and dirty leather shoes have holes on all sides. The old man is kneeling; the guy is 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)

Click on the image to go to viewing mode

In May 1954, Courbet traveled to Montpellier at the invitation of 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)

Click on the image to go to viewing mode

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. Artistic value the picture only became clear years later, when the scandal had died down.