Gustave Courbet

::For the French Admiral, see Admiral Courbet (1828-1885)

Notoriety

Towards the end of the 1860s, Courbet painted a series of increasingly erotic works, culminating in The Origin of the World (L'Origine du monde) (1866), depicting female genitalia, and The Sleepers (1866), featuring two women in bed. While banned from public display, the works only served to increase his notoriety.

Related Topics:
1860s - Erotic - The Origin of the World (L'Origine du monde) - 1866 - Genitalia - The Sleepers

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His refusal of the cross of the Legion of Honour offered to him by Napoleon III made him immensely popular with those who opposed current regime, and in 1871 under the revolutionary Paris Commune he was placed in charge of all the Paris art museums and saved them from looting mobs. After the fall of the Commune, the subsequent government charged him with destruction of the Vendôme column. A council of war tried him and condemned him to six months imprisonment and ordered him pay 300,000 francs to restore the column. He served his six-month sentence, but fled to Switzerland in 1873 to avoid working at the orders of the state to pay the fine.

Related Topics:
Legion of Honour - Napoleon III - 1871 - Paris Commune - Vendôme column - Switzerland - 1873

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Courbet died at La Tour du Peilz, Switzerland, of a liver disease aggravated by heavy drinking.

Related Topics:
La Tour du Peilz - Switzerland

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An exhibition of his works was held in 1882 at École des Beaux-Arts.

Related Topics:
1882 - École des Beaux-Arts

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