After 175 years, Gustave Courbet’s slow procession of mourners still stirs even the hardened modern heart. Most obviously, this is because it unflinchingly confronts mankind’s eternal subject and does ...

The best Courbet publications, from a comprehensive monograph to a look at how he was “a skilful media strategist”—selected ...

The pale, wide-eyed young man tearing at his hair has been everywhere since the juicy Gustave Courbet retrospective opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the end of February. 1 He lunges at us, ...

Gustave Courbet (1819 – 1877) was a deeply controversial figure. Slurred as a ‘socialist painter’ he said, “I accept that title with pleasure. I am not only a socialist but a Democrat and a Republican ...

The coastal town of Étretat has become a myth—and continues to fascinate to this day. The cliffs of Étretat, located in Normandy on the Atlantic coast, captivated numerous artists in the 19th century.

Gustave Courbet’s infamous “The Origin of the World,” an intimate portrait of a female model’s nether regions, has been shocking pretty much since it was painted in 1866. Even more shocking, though, ...

Gustave Courbet was already an art star but still itching for greater renown when he took matters into his own bold hands in 1855. Dissatisfied with the works representing him in the official Salon, ...

Courbet described the man in his Wounded Man (1844–54) portrait as a wounded duelist "in his death throes." courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Courbet's sisters served as models for the women ...