I, GUSTAVE COURBET

This major retrospective explores Gustave Courbet’s radical visual language, sociopolitical aspirations, and lasting influence on modern art. Rejecting the idealized aesthetics of Classicism and Romanticism, Courbet made everyday life and reality the subjects of his paintings. Considered a pioneer of modernism, he challenged the boundaries between art, society, and politics.
The exhibition traces key stages of his life and career through themes including self-image and public image, social reality, erotic representation, landscape, and exile. His political commitment, particularly during France’s period of upheaval, led him to leave Paris in 1873 and flee to Switzerland.

Gustave Courbet
L‘Homme à la pipe, um 1849
Öl auf Leinwand
© Musée Fabre de Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole / Foto Frédéric Jaulmes