1857 -1877 · realism, Franche-Comté and hunting scenes

An experienced hunter and painter of the terrain, Gustave Courbet transforms snowy forests, packs, game and Franche-Comté episodes into realistic dramas where matter, pursuit and silence of nature dominate.

Gustave Courbet was born in Ornans in 1819, in the heart of Franche-Comté. The limestone relief, forests, rivers and winters of his region remain at the center of his imagination, even after his installation in Paris. Leader of realism, he claims a painting based on the experience of his time and on the concrete presence of beings and things. Hunting became a major subject from 1857, with La Curé and Biche forced into the snow. Courbet knew the practices of the hunter, dogs, weapons, traces and changes in the terrain. He treated them neither as a simple sporting illustration nor as decorative pastoral care. Dead game, animal exhaustion continued, the cold and physical effort give these paintings an often dark tension. In Le Change, a hunting episode in Franche-Comté, the pack and the hunters are engaged in a precise moment when the dogs leave one track for another. In Hunters in the Snow, the white expanse, trunks and scattered silhouettes make us feel the silence and difficulty of movement. The dogs are observed individually: snouts, coat, trunks and scattered silhouettes build the action. The dogs are observed individually: snouts, coat, posture and direction of gaze build the action. The dogs are observed individually: snouts, coat, posture and direction of gaze build the action. The dogs are observed individually: snouts, coats, postures and gaze directions build the action. The dogs are observed individually: snouts, coats, postures and gaze directions build the action. Courbet also paints the hare, the deer and the deer as real, heavy, vulnerable bodies, rendered by thick material. More than one hundred and thirty paintings linked to hunting, to hunters and game are today identified in his work. This abundance reveals a pictorial laboratory: snow worked with a knife, fur, rock, undergrowth and low sky allow us to explore all the resources of oil. Courbet died in exile in Switzerland in 1877. A faithful reproduction must preserve the deep browns, the texture of the snow, the direction of the dogs, the weight of the game and the space necessary for pursuit. The "Chasse de Gustave Courbet" selection notably compares Landscape with Hunter - Gustave Courbet and Le Change, an episode of hunting in Franche-Comté - Gustave Courbet. His reading favors composition.

At Courbet, hunting is an experience of the territory: snow, rock, breath, coat and fatigue transform the sporting episode into a physical confrontation with nature.