La Source

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Gustave Courbet
La Source
1868
huile sur toile
H. 128,0 ; L. 97,5 cm.
Achat en vente publique, 1919
© Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt
Gustave Courbet
La Source
1868
huile sur toile
H. 128,0 ; L. 97,5 cm.
Achat en vente publique, 1919
© Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt
Gustave Courbet
La Source
1868
huile sur toile
H. 128,0 ; L. 97,5 cm.
Achat en vente publique, 1919
© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay) / Gérard Blot / Hervé Lewandowski
Gustave Courbet
La Source
1868
huile sur toile
H. 128,0 ; L. 97,5 cm.
Achat en vente publique, 1919
© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay) / Gérard Blot / Hervé Lewandowski
Gustave Courbet
La Source
1868
huile sur toile
H. 128,0 ; L. 97,5 cm.
Achat en vente publique, 1919
© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay) / Gérard Blot / Hervé Lewandowski
Gustave Courbet (1819 - 1877)
Rez-de-chaussée, Salle 6

Courbet escaped from the traditional norms of painting by subordinating the description of nature to an eminently personal experience. His motifs were mainly taken from his native region, Franche-Comté. The Loue valley, with its caves and woods, was tirelessly revisited as if he needed these references to give his painting balance. The harmony of nature and the animal kingdom was celebrated with lyricism, as was the fusion of female figure with nature. The Spring avoids the allegorical academic treatment usually reserved for this subject and belongs to a series of paintings that Courbet devoted to the most noble and ambiguous theme in painting, the nude. By unveiling the truth of a body shaped by the wearing of a corset, and putting it into an identifiable landscape, the canvas daringly symbolises as much a taste for the real world as the artist's imagination.
Courbet Dossier

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