France, (1819-1877)
-
The Little Swine-Maiden
- (c. 1849), oil on canvas
- 59.5 x 51.6 in. (151 x 131 cm.)
- E.G. Buhrle Foundation Collection, Zurich
-
The Peasants of Flagey Returning from the Fair, Ornans
- (cc. 850 – 55), oil on canvas
- 101.2 x 80.7 in. (257 x 205 cm.)
- Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon
About the Artist
Gustave Courbet, French, (1819-1877). Courbet started and dominated the mid-19th-century French movement toward realism. Realism is an approach to art in which subjects are depicted in as straightforward a manner as possible, without idealizing them and without following rules of formal artistic theory.
Prior to the beginning of this movement, art critics and the public were accustomed to a more romantic style of painting that made life look better than it was. Courbet, against much opposition, truthfully portrayed ordinary places, people and nature.