Courbet was born in Ornans (Doubs) in 1819
into a prosperous farming family. In 1840 he moved to Paris
to study law as his parents wished him to, however, once there,
he began focusing on painting. At first he started working
at the studio of Steuben and Hesse, only to leave soon after,
in order to develop his own style of painting. He taught himself
to paint by copying many masterpieces in the Louvre.
Courbet was a prominent and controversial painter of his time.
He, along with several other contemporaries, was instrumental
in founding the realist school of art of the 19th century.
He began exhibiting his works, starting off with literary
subjects, and then moving on to study real life, outraging
many with his crude and stark depictions. Some of his most
well-known works include After Dinner at Ornans,
The Valley of the Loire. the Burial at Ornans,
the Stone-Breakers Peasants of Flazey, Village
Damsels. Two of his paintings, The Origin of the
World and The Sleepers, were very erotic works
which were banned from the public and made him even more notorious.
He was nevertheless very popular, especially with those who
opposed the regime of the time. In 1871 under the revolutionary
Paris Commune, he was placed in charge of all the art museums
in Paris, and thankfully preserved them all form looting mobs.
After being charged with the destruction of the Vendôme
column and serving 6 months in prison as punishment, he left
for Switzerland, where he stayed until his death in 1877,
of a liver disease brought on by heavy drinking.
