In spite of his dejection and poor health, Courbet continued to paint in his exile. He settled in the small town of Fleurier and set to work again. During the latter stages of his career, Courbet’s most important canvases are the various still life paintings he produced of arrangements of flowers and fruit, rendering an extraordinary display of painterly dexterity. It seems that by replicating the miniscule details of these beautiful natural creations, the artist could escape the mounting difficulties of the outside world. Among these works is a large still life of several fruits – measuring 63 x 73 cm — held today at The Norton Simon Foundation of Pasadena. The canvas appears to celebrate the fruits by exploring the vivid intensity of their colours and the finely modelled shapes of their forms.
In a surviving letter from 1872, Courbet’s sister Zoë describes the canvas as “a large painting of a dozen pears, apples… heaped pleasantly on a table… Gustave is enchanted with it. He says that he never achieved such gracious effects of colour.” Undoubtedly, the canvas is among the finest of his still life paintings. He depicts the sensuality of the irregular forms in their lustrous skins. In the background we can see the muted interior of the connecting room, with a mantelpiece, ornate mirror and a chair with a red robe. These elements are given an earthy and dull appearance, serving as a foil to the resplendent fruit and flowers in the foreground. A portion of a landscape or mythological painting in a gilt frame can also be seen, yet the image is obscure, perhaps implying that the so called grander subjects of art fail to match the importance of the artist’s new preference for still life work.
There is a connection between his recent imprisonment and the fruits through the inscription on the canvas: “Ste Pélagie 71.” This does not imply that the painting was created in the prison, though it can be understood as a product of his ordeal there. Completely opposed to the grim experience, the fruits and flowers stand as solid and flesh representations of the beauty of life, blissful and manifold in their hues and forms. By producing polar opposites to the horrors he was living through, Courbet can come to terms with the harrowing ordeal. Through his work in still life, he was continuing his great project of a Realist painter, fashioning true and real representations of the world around him. Paul Cézanne was a great admirer of Courbet’s still life work and would later produce some of his own pioneering samples of the genre, noticeably influenced by Courbet’s paintings.
Living in Switzerland, Courbet must have sensed his days were numbered. He felt vulnerable being situated so close to France and so relocated to Vevey, followed by La Tour-de-Peilz, where he bought an old inn, suitably named the Bon-Port (Safe Arrival). There he remained from 1874 until his death of liver disease aggravated by heavy drinking in December 1877. He died at the age of 58, both physically and morally exhausted.
Since his death, Gustave Courbet’s reputation has continued to grow, elevating his status as a pioneering exponent of the avant-garde through his indefatigable quest for producing Realist art. His paintings would exact a great influence on the modern movements that followed, providing succeeding generations of painters a whole new philosophy to art. Contrary to previous schools of thought, Courbet’s objective of painting was not to idealise reality, but to reproduce it accurately and with truth. Courbet was admired by many younger artists, including the leading Impressionist artists, as well as James McNeill Whistler, Paul Cézanne and the German painters of the Leibl circle. Almost singlehandedly, Courbet challenged and subverted the prevailing tastes of High Art, rebelling against the Romantic painting of the day, turning attention instead to the lives of ordinary men and women, eschewing the age-old subjects of religious and historical art. His enormous canvases, featuring solid and everyday groups of figures, shocked the art establishment and prepared the way for the innovative creations of the modernist period. In later years, Courbet sought the sanctuary of still life work, unattached from the troubles of the outside world, where he was free to explore the sensuous and colourful natural forms, untouched by the corruption of his fellow men.
Detail
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Claude Monet, photo by Nadar, 1899
The Paintings
Courbet’s Paris studio was located at 32 Rue Hautefeuille, Paris
The Paintings of Gustave Courbet
Courbet’s paintings are presented in chronological order and divided into decade sections, with an alphabetical table of contents following immediately after.
CONTENTS
1830’s
Self Portrait at Age 14
Valley of the Loue
The Nahin Bridge
Juliette Courbet
1840’s
Study of a Nude Man
Portrait of a Little Girl
Portrait of the Artist’s Father, Regis Courbet
The Tinker
The Forest in Autumn
Juliette Courbet
The Crossing of the Ford
Reclining Nude
Portrait of a Young Woman of Ornans
Self Portrait with a Black Dog
Self Portrait
Portrait of Paul Ansout
The Desperate Man (Self Portrait)
The Desperate Man
The Draughts Players
The Sculptor
The Guitar Player
The Hammock
The Happy Lovers
Juliette Courbet
The Bacchante
The Vagabond
Bather Sleeping by a Brook
Portrait of a Young Lady
Woman with White Stockings
Portrait of Urbain Cuenot
Portrait of H. J. van Wisselingh
The Cellist, Self Portrait
Portrait of Zélie Courbet
The Knife Grinders
Marc Trapadoux is Examining the Book of Prints
Portrait of Baudelaire
After Dinner at Ornans
Peasant Wearing Madras
Portrait of the Artist
The Stone Breakers
The Stone Mason
The Valley of the Loue in Stormy Weather
A Burial at Ornans
1850’s
Portrait of Hector Berlioz
The Peasants of Flagey Returning from the Fair, Ornans
Valley near Ornans
Adolphe Marlet
Les demoiselles de village
Portrait of Madame Auguste Cuoq
Sleeping Woman (study)
The Young Ladies of the Village
The Bathers
The Houses of the Chateau d’Ornans
Portrait of Alfred Bruyas
The Sleeping Spinner
The Wrestlers
The Wounded Man
Quarry of Optevoz
The Beach at Palavas
Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet
Bruyas III
The Homecoming
The Wheat Sifters
Self Portrait with Striped Collar
Study of the Head of a Woman (H Bonion)
Portrait of Jules Vallès
The Approaching Storm
The Brook of Les Puits-Noir
The Chateau d’Ornans
Portrait of Champfleury
Dressing the Dead Girl
White Bull and Blond Heifer
Landscape in Summer
Le Ruisseau du Puis-Noir, Vallee de la Loue
The Painter’s Studio
Portrait of a Spanish Lady
Portrait of a Woman
Portrait of Max Buchon
La Roche de Dix Heures
View in the Forest of Fontainebleau
A Dog from Ornans
Portrait of Madame Charles Maquet
Woman in a Riding Habit
Winter Scene
Winter Landscape
Sitting Dog on Pillow
La Bretonnerie in the Department of Indre
La Meuse a Fre
yr
Landscape in the Jura with a Waterfall
The Rock at Bayard, Dinant
Study for ‘Les demoiselles des bords de la Seine’
Woman with Garland
The Pont Ambroix Languedoc
Dead Deer
Louis Gueymard as Robert le Diable
Portrait of a Young Girl
Portrait of Mademoiselle Jacquet
Portrait of Madthilde Couq
The Quarry
Seacoast
View of La Tour de Farges
View of Ornans
Young Ladies on the Banks of the Seine
Young Ladies on the Banks of the Seine
The Huntsman’s Picnic
Portrait of a Hunter with His Hat
Portrait of André Grangier
The Bathers
The Lady of Frankfurt
View of Frankfurt am Main
Valley of Ornans
Woman with Gloves
View of Ornans and Its Church Steeple
The German Huntsman
In the Forest
Mere Grégoire
Portrait of Madame Andler
1860’s
Fox in the Snow
Fox Hanging from a Tree
In the Woods
La Diligence in the Snow
Landscape with a Dead Horse
Portrait of a Young Girl from Salins
Portrait of Juliette Courbet
Portrait of the Politician Emile Ollivier
Three Schoolgirls
Valley of the Loue, near Ornans
Village Girl with Kid
Battle of the Stags
Racing Horse
Beneath the Trees at Port Berteau, Children Dancing
Femme nue couchée
Bouquet of Flowers
The Charente at Port Berteau
Large Oaks, by the Water, Port-Berteau
Nude Woman with a Dog
Portrait of Louis-Augustin Auguin
Portrait of Monsieur Nicolle
Reverie, Portrait of Gabrielle Borreau
The Source
Stream in the Forest
The Trellis
Still Life of Flowers
Basket of Flowers
Basket of Flowers
Horse in the Wood
Laure Borreau
Lilly and Gillyflower
Molen bij brug over de bron van de Loue (Bridge by a Waterfall)
Rocks at Mouthier
Vase of Lilacs, Roses, and Tulips
Beatrice Bouvet
The ‘Mirror’ of the River Loue, near Ornans
Crumbling Rocks
The Great Bridge
Hunter on Horseback, Redcovering the Trail
Landscape: Bald Rock in the Valley of Ornans
Male and Female Deer in the Woods
The Oak at Flagey
Reflection
A River in a Gorge
Seaside
The Source of the Loue
The Source of the Loue
The Source of the Loue
The Source of the Loue River
The Gour de Conche
View of Ornans, France
The Beach at Trouville at Low Tide
The Beach at Trouville at Low Tide
Cliffs near Ornans
Cliffs on the Sea Coast
The Deer
Entering the Forest
The Fishing Boat
The Forest Edge
Girl with Seagulls, Trouville
Going Fishing
Landscape with Waterfall
La Ruisseau de la Breme
Locks on the Loue
Marée basse à Trouville
The Ornans Paper Mill
Paysage près de Maisières (Landscape near Maisières)
Portrait of Countess Karoly
Portrait of Jo, the Beautiful Irish Woman
Jo, the Beautiful Irish Girl
Jo, the Beautiful Irish Girl
Jo, the Beautiful Irish Girl
Portrait of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Portrait of P. J. Proudhon in 1853
River and Cliff
The River Plaisir-Fontaine
Rocky Landscape with Figure
Rocky Seashore
Seascape
The Shaded Stream
Study for Venus in “Venus and Psyche”
Three English Girls at a Window
Trees in the Snow
The Villa of Madame de Morny at Deauville
Woman in a Podoscaphe
Woman with a Parasol
Snow Landscape in Jura
The Black Rocks at Trouville
Marine
Calm Sea
Deer Taking Shelter in Winter
Dunes at Deauville
Fishing Boats on the Deauville Beach
Agathe Thoma, Sister of the Artist
The Greyhounds of the Comte de Choiseul
Landscape of the Ornans Region
The Origin of the World
Remise de Chevreuils
The Ruse, Roe Deer Hunting Episode, Franche-Comté
Seascape
The Shelter of the Roe Deer at the Stream of Plaisir-Fontaine, Doubs
Woman in the Waves
The Sleepers
Woman with a Parrot
Solitude
The Source of the Lison
The Waterspout
The Wave
The Young Bather
Portrait of Armand Gautier, Painter
The Beach, Sunset
Seashore in Normandy
Deer in a Snowy Landscape
Deer in the Snow
The Cliffs at Étretat
Killing a Dear
La femme aux bijoux (The Woman with Jewels)
The Hunted Deer (Spring)
Poachers in the Snow
The Rest during the Harvest Season
Valley of the Loue, near Ornans
Reclining Nude by the Sea
The Beach at Saint-Aubin
Landscape with Tree
Forest Stream with Deer
The Charity of a Beggar at Ornans
Remise de Cerfs
Roe Deer at a Stream
The Source
Three Bathers
The Stream of the Puits-Noir at Ornans
The Valley of Les Puits-Noir
Winter, the Effect of Snow
Snow Effect
A Young Woman Reading
A Bay with Cliffs
The Calm Sea
The Cliff at Étretat, the Porte d’Avale
Eternity
The Immensity
River Landscape
Gypsy in Reflection
The Rock at Hautepierre
The Sea Arch at Étretat
Seascape at Étretat
Swiss Landscape
The Stormy Sea; The Wave
The Wave
The Wave
The Wave
The Wave
The Wave
The Wave
The Wave
The Wave
Waves
The Angry Sea
Channel Coast in Stormy Weather
The Cliff at Étretat After the Storm
Malle Babbe
1870’s
The Cliffs at Étretat
The Cliff
Cliffs by the Sea in the Snow
Coastal Scene with Approaching Storm
Portrait of Jules Antoine Castagnary
Marine: The Waterspout
Seascape
The Wave
Winter at Ornans
Head of a Woman with Flowers
Landscape: The Source among the Rocks of the Doubs
Pomegranates
Red Apples
Still Life: Apples and Pears
Still Life with Apples
Still Life with Apples and a Pear
Still-Life with Apples and Pears
The Wave
The Wave
After the Storm
Landscape with Rocky Cliffs and a Waterfall
Apple, Pear and Orange
Flowering Apple Tree Branch
Fruit
Hollyhocks in a Copper Bowl
Landscape near Puit Noir, near Ornans
The Loue Valley
The Sea
Seascape at Saint-Aubin
Still Life with Apples
Still Life
Still Life: Apples, Pears and Primroses on a Table
Still Life: Fruit
Still Life with Apples and Pomegranates
The Trout
The Cow
Horse in a Stable
Portrait of Juliette Courbet
Stream in the Jura Mountains
The Banks of a Stream
Calm Seas
The Giants Cave from Saillon (Switzerland)
The Glacier
A Gorge in the Jura
A Gorge in the Jura
Hunter by the Water
Landscape
Landscape with the Chatel St Denis, Scey-en-Varais
A Mill in a Rocky Landscape
Mountainous Landscape with Fruit Trees near Ornans
Seascape, the Poplar
Self Portrait at Ste.-Pélagie
Still Life with Pears and Apples
Still Life with Three Trout from the Loue River
The Trout
Beach Scene
A Hut in the Mountains
The Chateau de Chillon
Chȃteau de Chillon
Portrait of Henri Rochefort
Lake Leman
The Port of Clarens on Lake Geneva
Seascape
Snow
Sunset on Lake Leman
Sunset, Vevey, Switzerland
Vallée du Doubs
View of the Chateau de Chillon
View of the Parc de Crete over Clarens
Beach at Étretat, Normandy
Boats on a Beach, Étretat
Château de Beaulieu; near Lausanne
Chateau de Chillon
Delphi Complete Paintings of Gustave Courbet Page 5