Gustave Courbet Realism Paintings
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Gustave Courbet was a realism artist. He was concerned with the problems of the poor and the state of art. During his days, realism was not considered fashionable. When his work got rejected by the Salon, he opened his own Pavilion of Realism in front of the Salon. During his time, art was supposed to teach you a lesson. It should also be original and innovative.
As a proponent of this new avant garde art, Courbet tried hard to paint in his own unique way. Courbet's realism entailed painting something from his own life. Therefore, Courbet never painted angels because he never saw one. He also never painted historical paintings. The only subjects he dealt with were events that took place during his lifetime. For his radical views, he was eventually exiled out of France. He was forced to pay up for the damages caused by some of his associates.
He left France to avoid bankruptcy. In the end, he got depressed and died a drunkard. I will now rate some of Courbet's lovely painting. This first painting is called "Firemen Running to a Fire". At a certain date, Courbet saw a fire near his workplace. He made this painting based on that event. The main figures in the foreground are firefighters. All about them some people are watching the fire fighters perform their job. The night scenery is pretty realistic.
Here is another realistic scenery. Close to the foreground we see a lady painting. Beside her, I see a little boy. He might be a servant or something. The scenery she is painting is a beach scenery.
This next painting shows a realistic forest scenery. The deer passing by makes this scene even more realistic. This painting shows the harmony of nature. Courbet believed that nature was the ideal teacher. It taught men to live via the essentials.
This is the last featured landscape painting made by Courbet. It focuses on a huge wave during a stormy day. The subject matter borders on romanticism. However, this was painted realistically speaking. Sometimes nature can make its own epic moment, without the aid of imagination. I have more Gustave Courbet blogs planned for the near future.
Today, I wanted to review some cute girl paintings by Gustave Courbet. For a while, he did a short series of girl paintings. They caused him a lot of problems because of how explicit they were.
It was his way of critiquing the traditional views of female beauty. Needless to say, most of these paintings got rejected by the academy. This first painting is a bit odd. It is one of Courbet's few traditional paintings. It is a bummer why he chose to paint this subject matter from the Bible.
It is important to consider, that Courbet never painted anything he never saw in person. Yet, here we have this Biblical painting. For those that do not know, this painting is about Lot. God told his daughters to get Lot drunk to have kids with him. You know, to keep his clan going. It is one of those strange passages from the Bible.
Here is the next lovely realism painting by Courbet. This one simply shows a girl talking off her socks. She is about to enter the lake for her bath. What is cute is the way she is looking at the viewer. She is aware that the viewer is looking at her. That kind of look got the academics of Courbet's time really angry.
This next painting was a more acceptable depiction of the female beauty. It has all the classical elements of a reclining figure. However, this is a real depiction of the female beauty. She is no Venus, nor any historical figure. Her beauty belongs to the realm of reality, to the here and now. Therefore, she is a realistic depiction of female beauty.
Here is the next painting. Like the one before, the girl is by the river. In this one, Courbet added the girl's pet dog. It is interesting the show of modesty of this girl. Behind her, we see the yellow robes shielding from the sight of others. Further in the background, we can see the sun covered by a cloud. It is a pretty realistic scenery.
This next painting is called "The Hammock". It shows a girl sleeping on a hammock. She is about to fall off. Her vest is slightly opened. What is cute is how her hair is decorated with laurel crowns. The forest scenery works pretty well.
This reclining figure is a bit more classical in nature. Her gender is covered by a bit of flower. Judging by the main figure, the girl who is dressed must be her servant. It is interesting how she is gesturing to her servant. Overall, they seem to be having a grand time.
From all of Courbet's paintings, this one was the second most problematic. The academics of his time thought he was a pervert for painting this. It shows two maidens sleeping together. On the foreground, we see pearls inside a cup. They are a kind of toy. In classical art, it was rather odd to depict to chicks together. Here Courbet painted this reality in all its colors.
This next painting shows a girl entering a waterfall. She is trying out the cool water. This scene is quite realistic. By Courbet's time, hygiene had returned to Europe. It became a common sight to see people taking a bath. As such, Courbet depicted this maiden. She is Courbet's real vision of beauty.
Here is the last Beauty by Courbet. This maiden is indoors. She is playing around with her parrot while resting in bed. Her curly hair is cute. She came out looking very fertile. What is adorable is her laughing expression. Her expressions are pretty realistic.
A self portrait of Courbet. He chose to paint himself as a desperate man. During the time this painting was made, Courbet had a lot of problems. In essence, he had become a desperate man. He has the glare of a man who cannot handle the problems he is facing. His eyes look vacant.
This painting is drawn from a classical equivalent. This one too is more realistic. I suppose it makes sense that she would have fallen asleep. Sewing is a pretty boring job to do. What is neat is the flower pattern on the lady's dress. It matches well the still life behind the machine.
Here is another lovely realism painting. This one features a girl tending to her garden. Like the maiden from the previous painting, she is wearing a dress of flowers. The flowers are as elaborate as the bouquet of the first featured painting.
Here is the last painting worth rating by Gustave Courbet. Here we see two ladies resting near a river. Behind the lady in red, we can see their boat. This really seems like a great place to hang out.I hope that you like this realism paintings.
These last paintings are Courbet's socially aware paintings. Above, three poor people are listening to a violin player. The dog on the floor is softly sleeping while the musician plays. The guy in the far left is drinking. The guy beside him is smoking a pipe. This shows that he is from the working class poor. The entire scenery shows that even the poor partake of the enjoyment of music. It is just one of the few pleasures they can indulge.
This painting is even more depressing. It was featured in Courbet's Pavilion of Realism. It critiques the poor working condition of rural workers. Above, we see a young and an old man. The old person represents the future of the boy. This painting shows the sad reality that those born poor usually die poor. In no time, they become one with their labor. This is noted on how the cold guy is becoming one with the depressing landscape.
This paintings too was featured in Courbet's Pavilion of Realism. It is about a burial. However, this death is devoid of mysticism. There only show of piety comes from the priests and his attendants. Close to the viewer is an open grave. Courbet aimed to shows that death is a tragic fact of life. It is not something glorious or sacred. When we die, we simply enter an open pit. I think that is everything worth mentioning about this painting.
This painting shows some farmers returning home from the market. They each have the supplies they bought. What I find odd is the man walking the pig. He is dressed more like middle class man. Needless to say, he has not been a farmer for very long. The sunrise in the background is unsightly.
This following painting shows Gustave Courbet meeting with his sponsor. It was in this meeting where they planned the paintings for the Pavilion of Realism. Courbet choose to illustrated himself like the traveling Jew. During the time, there was a popular print about the traveling Jews. They were kind misunderstood figures that people always suspected. Courbet associated himself with the group in this depiction. He was trying to show to the viewer that he was like the Diaspora Jews. Like them, he was always misunderstood.
Here is another self portrait of Gustave Courpet. He painted himself with his lover girl. Both are holding each other's hand. This painting was well liked in the academy I can see why. It is a very sweet depiction of the artist.
This last self portrait is a summery of 7 years of Courbet's career. The artist is at the center of the painting. Behind him, we see his model. Courbet has turned his back on this classical artifice. He looks to nature for inspiration. The boy beside him is learning from Courbet. Like many scholars of his time, Courbet was concerned with the education of children. He worried that in the city their innocence was being lost.
He wanted children to learn moderation from nature. The cat in the floor is just a cat. It also represent the kid's infantile nature. On the right side of the painting, we see Courbet's shareholders. They are like minded individuals like himself. The man with the open book is a famous poet he liked. Beside the couple, we see a kid drawing on the floor. Like the other boy, he is trying to learn from Courbet. Courbet liked how kids imitated adults. He believed that to help them learn, grownups should give the kids their very own miniature workshops.
The left group shows the world of the exploiters and the exploited. The figure sitting down next to the dog is based on a portrait of Napoleon III. To Courbet, Napoleon III represented the biggest exploiter. For those that do not know, Napoleon III came to power after France second Revolution. In essence, he stole democracy from right under their noses. I think that is everything worth mentioning about this painting.
This last painting shows two hunters. In the foreground, we see the bloodhounds and the fallen deer. This is a pretty realistic hunting scene. The guy with the horn is signaling to the other hunters to see the game. I hope that you liked these Gustave Coubet reviews.
