Born 1819, the son of a prosperous farmer, Gustave Courbet was an influential and prolific painter who was instrumental in leading the nineteenth century movement of realism.

In 1840 Gustave headed for Paris to study law but, instead, taught himself to paint by copying the masterpieces from the Louvre. By 1850, Courbet was exhibiting in the Salon shows of Paris. His depictions of common people deliberately flouted the precepts of the romantics, challenging the powerful academics of the Beaux-Arts tradition.

Courbet was a painter of figurative compositions, landscapes and seascapes but he also dealt in social issues, addressed peasantry, and the grave working conditions of the poor. His work belonged to neither to the Romantic nor the Neoclassical movements. He believed the artist's mission was the pursuit of truth, which would help erase social contradictions and imbalances.

For Courbet realism was not the perfection of line and form, but a detailed spontaneous and rough handling of paint, suggesting direct observation by the artist. He depicted the harshness in life, and in so doing, challenged contemporary academic ideas of art, all of which brought a criticism that he was deliberately adopting a cult of ugliness. Not only were Courbet's class-conscience subject matter alien to both the public and the critics but his uncompromising, vigorous painting techniques especially his treatment of rural themes, were highly innovative.

Gustave Courbet used primarily earth-colored grounds for his largest works. In his smaller paintings, he bought commercially prepared canvases with pale grounds, changing the ground to suit the painting. His robust paint surfaces echo the subject matter. He frequently chose a shallow pictorial space and complemented it by the rich plasticity of his paint handling. He was renowned for his dexterity with a palette knife, applying thin layers of opaque paint with a palette knife, snagging previous layers, all of which produced a delicately color-modulated surface.

It didn't take long before he enjoyed widespread popularity. Along with the works he exhibited at the Salon, in 1855, he issued a provocative manifesto detailing his social realist credo of art and life. Towards the end of the 1860's, he painted a series of erotic works which indluded a painting depicting female genitalia, and one featuring two women in bed. While banned from public display, the works served to increase his notoriety. In 1870, Courbet established a "Federation of Artists" for the free and uncensored expansion of art. Many famous artists joined his cause including André Gill, Honoré Daumier, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Eugène Pottier, Jules Dalou, and Édouard Manet.

As radical about politics as he was about his painting, in 1871, Courbet was placed in charge of all art museums in the Commune of Paris to save the city's art from looting mobs. Following the fall of the Commune, however, Courbet was accused of allowing the destruction of Napoleon's triumphal column. He was imprisoned and ordered to pay for its reconstruction.

In 1873, Gustave Courbet fled the country to Switzerland to avoid bankruptcy. He stayed in Switzerland until his death in 1877, never making a payment for the fines he incurred.