Gustave Courbet

About Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet was born at Ornans in eastern France in 1819. He refused idealised subjects and painted labourers, village funerals and his own defiant face at the scale reserved for history painting. A Burial at Ornans caused an outcry at the Salon of 1850 for exactly that reason. Courbet was a republican who took part in the Paris Commune of 1871. He was jailed after it fell and spent his last years in exile in Switzerland. He died there in 1877, aged fifty-eight.

The Gustave Courbet Collection at BestOfBharat

The range runs from the studio to the forest. The Desperate Man and Self-Portrait with a Black Dog show Courbet looking straight out at the viewer. The landscapes are Franche-Comté country: limestone cliffs, still lakes, snow-covered woods. Hunting pictures such as Deer Running in the Snow and After the Hunt bring animals into that same terrain. Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase and The Winnowers cover the still life and the working day.

Gustave Courbet in Your Space

Courbet wants a little darkness around him. The paintings were built over brown underlayers, so they hold their own against deep green, charcoal or wood-panelled walls better than against bright white. A single self-portrait works in a hallway at eye level, where the gaze meets you as you pass. The snow scenes are cooler and lighter, and they suit a bedroom or a landing. Wide black or walnut frames match the density of the paint.

Every artwork here is an archival print, hand-framed to order and delivered ready to hang — made in India.