Gustave Courbet, born June 10, 1819, in Ornans, was a famous French painter and leader of the Realist movement. He led a revolution where the everyday life events were the focus of his paintings rather than idolizing an unreal world and using that as the basis of beauty. His two paintings that began the revolution of Romanticism into Realism were A Burial at Ornans and The Stone Breakers, both exhibited at the same Salon in 1850-51.
A Burial of Ornans was the beginning of Courbet's manifesto. Large paintings were supposed to be historical, heroic, symbolic, or religious. But this is a genre painting of everyday life. According to the rules of the Academy, it had no business being on a canvas this large. Lifestyle paintings were on small canvasses, whereas historical paintings were on big ones. That was the rule. But here in his painting, we have an ordinary funeral, a group of typical figures, and a regular place. Courbet submitted it to the jury as a history painting, which is true in our world today but was not a historic moment at the time of submission. This painting portrays his great-uncle's funeral. The figures seen in the painting are individual portraits, many of them members of Courbet's family. To be accepted by the jury of the Salon and hung in official exhibitions
As drawn out by the Academy, historical paintings showed the same subjects from ancient Greek and Roman history, mythology, and religious subjects. Courbet wanted to paint what he saw in his world. He paints the world he knows, the world he grew up in. He did not conform to what society saw as beautiful.
After the Revolution of 1848, which ushered in the second republic, artists began turning to figures of laborers or ordinary workers and portrayed them in an ennobled and heroic manner. Courbet's Burial at Ornans differs from traditional paintings destined for the Salon because of the figures' lack of interaction. According to the Royal Academy of Fine Art's rules, the figures should interact; they should have readable gestures and can tell a story. There are, however, a few references to the history of painting. The skull at the edge of the grave references the skull at the cross's base and the crucifixion sculpture. Courbet does not let the historic references overshadow the point he is making with this painting.
Courbet says, "painting is essentially a concrete art and can only consist of the representation of real and existing things. It is a completely physical language, the words of which consist of all visible objects. An object which is abstract, not physical, non-existent, is not within the realm of painting." This is why he turned his back on Romanticism and embraced the real nature of things in the world. According to an article on The Art Story, Courbet stated that "A Burial at Ornans was, in reality, the burial of Romanticism."
As learned from our previous class sessions, Oscar Wilde did not regard Realism as art. This is because Realism gives no room for exaggeration or lie. In "The Decay of Lying," Wilde states that artists need to lie more often and better than make their art copy life. Realism is about the depiction of reality or the real world, which disagrees with Wilde's theory. Hence Courbet is not perceived as an artist by Wilde, and neither is Realism seen as art. Wilde argues more for Romanticism and debunks Realism.
Famous quote by Courbet, "Show me an angel, and I'll paint one."
References:
"A Burial at Ornans - Gustave Courbet - Google Arts & Culture." Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/asset/a-burial-at-ornans/jwESwQ4qvb87oQ?hl=en.
Fernier, Robert J. "Political Activities." Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., June 6, 2020, www.britannica.com/biography/Gustave-Courbet/Political-activities.
“Gustave Courbet Paintings.” Metmuseum.org, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438820?searchField=All.
"A Movement in a Moment: Realism." Phaidon, www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2015/june/10/a-movement-in-a-moment….
"Realism - Important Paintings." The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/movement/realism/artworks/.
Wilde, Oscar. The Decay of Lying. www.victorianweb.org/authors/wilde/decay.html.