Gustave Courbet
The Artist's Studio

The Artist's Studio. A real allegory summing up seven years of my artistic and moral life

This manifesto painting, refused by the Salon jury, was the highlight of the one-man exhibition organised by Courbet alongside the 1855 Universal Exhibition. Its sub-title – A real allegory summing up seven years of my artistic and moral life – gives an idea of the painter's ambitious and somewhat enigmatic aims. "It's the whole world coming to me to be painted", declared Courbet "on the right are all the shareholders, by that I mean friends, fellow workers and art lovers. On the left is the other world of everyday life: the masses, wretchedness, poverty, wealth, the exploited and the exploiters, people who make a living from death".
On the right hand side, one can recognise the bearded profile of Alfred Bruyas, and behind him, facing us, the philosopher Proudhon. The critic Champfleury is seated on a stool, whilst Baudelaire is absorbed in a book. The couple in the foreground personify art lovers, and, near the window, two lovers represent free love.
On the side of "everyday life" we find a priest, a merchant, a hunter who somewhat resembles Napoleon III, and even an unemployed worker and a beggar girl symbolising poverty. We can also see the guitar, the dagger and the hat, which, together with the male model, condemn traditional academic art. The identification of these figures nevertheless remains uncertain.
In the centre, like a mediator, the artist, himself, is accompanied by benevolent figures: a female muse, naked like Truth, a child and a cat.
There has been much speculation about the true meaning of the painting. In The Artist's Studio, Courbet challenges the hierarchy of artistic genres, by giving his personal manifesto the status and the format of the most prestigious history painting.