The Painter's Studio – (Gustave Courbet) ◄ Anterior Próximo ►

Artista: Gustave Courbet

tópicos: Painter

Encontro: 1855

museu: Musée d'Orsay (Paris, France)

"The Painter's Studio" is a true allegory summarizing seven years of artistic and moral life of Gustave Courbet, painted in oil on canvas in 1855. The original painting is kept in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France. The painting is oil on canvas and has the following dimensions: 361 cm × 598 cm (142 × 235 in). "The Painter's Studio" is undoubtedly the most mysterious composition of Gustave Courbet. In the first group on the right, we recognize the bearded profile of the art collector Alfred Bruchas, and behind him, facing us, the philosopher Proudhon. The critic Champfler sits on a stool, while Baudelaire is absorbed in a book. The couple in the foreground represents art lovers, and the two lovers by the window represent free love. On the "everyday" side, we find a priest, a merchant, a hunter, somewhat reminiscent of Napoleon III, and even an unemployed worker and a beggar girl, symbolizing poverty. We also see a guitar, a dagger and a hat, which together with the male model condemn traditional academic art. In this vast allegory, truly a manifesto painting, each figure has a different meaning. And in the middle of all this stands Courbet himself, surrounded by benevolent figures: a woman-muse, naked like Truth, a child and a cat. In the center, the artist acts as a mediator. In this way, Courbet affirms the role of the artist in society in a huge scene on the scale of a historical painting. Faced with the rejection of his painting intended for the Universal Exhibition of 1855, Courbet built the "Pavilion of Realism" at his own expense. Here, outside of the official event, he organized his own exhibition, which also included "The Burial at Ornans", so that his works were accessible to the whole community.