Ah, l’enfant terrible of art. The rebel, the radical, the nonconformist. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the French realist painter Gustave Courbet. It wasn’t just his art that brought him notoriety, but also his ostentatious je m’en fous (I don’t give a damn) attitude. See, it’s difficult to write about him without turning to French, because he embodied the spirit so well. I’m smelling fresh baguettes and Camembert cheese, existential angst and the blood of revolution. Ok, perhaps I’m getting a bit carried away.
If you are to remember at least one thing about Courbet, it is that he shocked the art world with his in-your-face painting The Origin of the World. He continues to do so even a century and a half later. But today, however, the highlight is one of his many self-portraits, completed before he embraced realism in his works.
The Desperate Man shows Courbet from the neck up with his eyes bulging out and pulling his own hair. Adopting the theatrical pose of a man at wits’ end – a mad artist, if you may – the Frenchman makes use of the Romantic idea of the painter as a tortured soul, driven to insanity by the insensitivity of the masses and rejection by the art establishment. The painting is a reflection of the French artist’s personality. In it we can admire Courbet’s passion, determination, outspokenness and, perhaps vanity, for his pose and expressiveness are clearly exaggerated.
Through painting, the artist embarked on a path of self-discovery, creating many self-portraits in his early years while testing the limits of his art and of his ego:
“During my life, I have painted myself many times, whenever my state of mind changed. In short, I have written the story of my life.” Gustave Courbet, 1854
ohh, wow!! What an incredible selection. Thank you for bringing this artist up. I love both the Desperate man and The Origin Of the World. Like you have rightly said , I don’t give a damn attitude.
I had seen The Desperate Man in other places but did not about the artist or his thinking.
Tortured soul has been an enduring legend/myth/fact , but this painting captures it so well.
Keep sharing !!
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“Tortured soul has been an enduring legend/myth/fact “… how can it be a myth and fact at the same time? Do you identify with it and your life “on the edge”? I’m starting to get worried.
Constant rejection can clearly break a person, but the Romantics often took it to the next level, victimizing themselves.
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I said it so because there are some artists who say that this is true while others like you said, wallow in playing victims and exaggerate their suffering. Hence is it a legend, or fact, is open to interpretation.
Me myself, I fall into the category of aggrandising my silly sufferings.But it is all cool . 🙂
Where did I read this, only a broken heart can be opened 🙂 Rumi, maybe . That tells us something about the Romantics, I suppose.
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Ok, ok, just promise me you won’t pull out your hair!
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Haha. Done deal.
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I’ve always liked this painting.
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It’s a great selfie. 😉
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Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it. The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired. Gustave Courbet
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I would say his beauty is quite timeless.
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Also a handsome young man. Very vivid. Very real. Still very vibrant today.
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It’s definitely one of his most vibrant paintings. And oh, he’s handsome alright. Thanks, Emma!
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Mr. Madness
reminds me of Salvador Dali ‘face screaming insanely “Money, money!!”
Thank you, Gabriela
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That’s a good point. He does have that madness in his eyes, just like Dali with his crazy mustache and enlarged eyes.
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Interestingly the painting looks much more current. I’m kinda’ shocked it’s so old because, while the style is a bit straight-forward, it’s very clear, and leaps out at you.
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I agree, it does look modern. I think this was achieved by the tight cropping and zooming in on the face, in order to focus on his strong emotions.
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