Gustave Courbet and Realism

When looking at Gustave Courbet’s paintings, specifically, The Stonebreakers and A Burial at Orans, the expression of the lower class through Realism is highly relevant. During this time in France, especially Paris, there was much social unrest and division between the bourgeoisie and lower class. Along with the firm rigidity that was being taught within academic training, the avant garde seemingly emerged. These new artists, such as Courbet, moved in a direction of Realism and away from Romanticism, which dominated French artwork and literature. These works which boasted unbiased, truthful scenes, mostly depicted characters of the lower to middle class. Therefore these pieces were highly offensive to the bourgeoisie, and led way for the avant garde to proceed.

Gustave Courbet, born in 1819, painted landscapes, and still lifes that depicted social issues, often displaying characters of the middle to lower class. At the time these subjects were considered to be offensive when portrayed in artwork because of the previous influence of Romanticism and the bourgeoisie class. He often depicted subjects that were poor, peasants, and other working class people affected by the Industrial Revolution.

Courbet, who supported the Revolution, was one of the first artists to consider himself avant garde and led the Realism movement. In The Stone Breakers, we see a young man and an older man crushing rock a long a roadway in a rural area. This painting depicts one of the “lowliest” and most laborious jobs that existed at the time. Such beauty of situations like this was something that Realism stood for and is considered one of the first “socialist” paintings to ever have emerged. Not only was this piece was offensive to the bourgeoisie because it did not depict a Romantic or Neoclassical scene depict any historical, but it also rejects any historical or religious influence. However, Courbet seems to illustrate his subjects as some sort of heroes, or at least person worthy of mention. He found beauty in these situations and thus became one of the leading artists of the Realism movement.

In his piece, A Burial at Ornans, he more obviously illustrated the division and difference between classes. In this piece, which is an impressing ten by twenty one feet, the viewer sees a graveside service in which the figures to the left (considered the clergy) have completely different expressions then the figures to the right. The subjects to the right, “Courbet’s heroes of modern life”, express emotion, with some covering their faces or openly weeping. However even the altar boy and gravedigger, which happen to be more to the left, see to solely express boredom or nothing at all.

This painting was therefore attacked by critics, whom failed to accept this new style and technique of art. The bourgeoisie or upper class dismissed Courbet’s piece and many other Realism works, with the idea that is would digress artistic standards. At first, Realism was seen as the opposite of art, being called socialistic and unpleasant. With the rise of the Industrial Revolution and the current state of modern Paris, these Realism works were vital and increasingly prominent throughout art.