In 1819, Gustave Courbet entered the world in the rural town of Ornans, nestled in France’s Franche-Comté region. Born into a wealthy and politically liberal farming family, Courbet was steeped early in values that would later echo through both his art and activism. His initial studies followed a conventional path—seminary, then law school in Besançon—but his passion ultimately led him to abandon the courtroom for the easel. He relocated to Paris in 1839, where he taught himself by studying and replicating masterpieces in the Louvre, taking influence from Rembrandt, Velázquez, and Caravaggio.

Unimpressed by the rigid expectations of academic art, Courbet rejected the idealism of Romanticism and pioneered a movement of his own—Realism. He devoted himself to painting everyday life, focusing not on nobles, gods, or myths, but on peasants, laborers, and the unvarnished truths of rural existence. His groundbreaking work A Burial at Ornans shocked critics by presenting a provincial funeral on a massive canvas, a scale typically reserved for historical or religious scenes. Similarly, The Stone Breakers stripped away sentimentality to portray physical labor in all its harshness.

Courbet’s bold artistic vision was matched by equally strong political convictions. During the turbulent aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, he supported the Paris Commune—a radical, working-class government that briefly took control of Paris in 1871. The Commune aimed to reshape society by promoting secular education, labor rights, and democratic governance. Courbet not only endorsed its ideals, he actively participated, famously pushing for the removal of the Vendôme Column, a symbol of militaristic empire. When the French government crushed the uprising with brutal force, Courbet was imprisoned and later held financially responsible for the column’s destruction. Facing bankruptcy, he fled to Switzerland, where he lived in exile until his death in 1877.

Despite the political backlash, Courbet’s influence only grew. He was a trailblazer for artists like Manet and Monet, inspiring future movements including Impressionism and even elements of Modernism. His willingness to defy convention—both on canvas and in civic life—made him not only an artistic innovator, but a symbol of resistance and authenticity. As he once quipped, “I cannot paint an angel because I have never seen one.” With that simple statement, Courbet redefined the purpose of art: not to idealize, but to reveal.