Where can you see Gustave Courbet in Paris?

At the Musée d'Orsay: A Burial at Ornans, The Painter's Studio and The Origin of the World. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

What is Gustave Courbet's most famous work in Paris?

A Burial at Ornans, of 1849 to 1850, at the Musée d'Orsay. Some fifty of his neighbours, life-size, around an open grave. Nobody is idealised and nothing is explained.

When and where was Gustave Courbet born?

On 10 June 1819, at Ornans, France. Gustave Courbet died on 31 December 1877, at La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland, aged about 58.

What is Gustave Courbet known for?

The founder of Realism in painting. A Burial at Ornans is nearly seven metres wide. Died in exile after the Paris Commune. Gustave Courbet was a French painter, of Realism.

Painter, 1819 to 1877

Gustave Courbet

Courbet painted a village funeral on the scale reserved for kings and battles, and the critics were appalled. That canvas, nearly seven metres wide, is on the ground floor of the Musée d'Orsay.

A Burial at Ornans, by Courbet: a long row of villagers in black around an open grave. — Gustave Courbet, Public domain

The Painter's Studio, by Courbet: the painter at his easel between two crowds of figures. — Gustave Courbet, Public domain

A photograph of Gustave Courbet from the studio of Nadar. — Nadar, Public domain

Born: 1819, Ornans, France
Died: 1877, La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland
Movement: Realism
In Paris: 3 works in 1 museum

Where to see Gustave Courbet in Paris

Each work with the museum it hangs in. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

Musée d'Orsay3 works

A Burial at Ornans
1849 to 1850
Some fifty of his neighbours, life-size, around an open grave. Nobody is idealised and nothing is explained.
The Painter's Studio
1855
Courbet at his easel between two crowds: on one side the people he painted, on the other his friends, Baudelaire among them. He called it a real allegory of seven years of his life.
The Origin of the World
1866
A woman's body, from thigh to breast, painted without evasion for a private collector. It was hidden for more than a century and has been shown at the Orsay since 1995.

The life of Gustave Courbet

Courbet was born in 1819 at Ornans, in the hills near the Swiss border, and never stopped painting its people and its rocks. He taught himself in the Louvre. In 1850 he showed A Burial at Ornans, and gave the name Realism to what he did: painting only what he could see.

He was loud, vain and a republican. During the Paris Commune of 1871 he was blamed for the pulling down of the column in the Place Vendôme, imprisoned and ordered to pay for its rebuilding. He fled to Switzerland and died there in 1877.

What to know

The founder of Realism in painting
A Burial at Ornans is nearly seven metres wide
Died in exile after the Paris Commune

Born: 10 June 1819, Ornans, France
Died: 31 December 1877, La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland

Gustave Courbet: common questions

Where can you see Gustave Courbet in Paris?: At the Musée d'Orsay: A Burial at Ornans, The Painter's Studio and The Origin of the World. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.
What is Gustave Courbet's most famous work in Paris?: A Burial at Ornans, of 1849 to 1850, at the Musée d'Orsay. Some fifty of his neighbours, life-size, around an open grave. Nobody is idealised and nothing is explained.
When and where was Gustave Courbet born?: On 10 June 1819, at Ornans, France. Gustave Courbet died on 31 December 1877, at La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland, aged about 58.
What is Gustave Courbet known for?: The founder of Realism in painting. A Burial at Ornans is nearly seven metres wide. Died in exile after the Paris Commune. Gustave Courbet was a French painter, of Realism.