1819 -1877 · Loue Valley, realism and native territory

In Ornans, Courbet finds faces, rocks, rivers and ceremonies capable of supporting a monumental painting of everyday life: the native place becomes a method.

Gustave Courbet was born in Ornans, in Doubs, in 1819. Even after settling in Paris, he constantly returned to the Loue valley. The territory provides him with subjects that overturn the academic hierarchy. A funeral in Ornans gives the inhabitants and a provincial ceremony the format reserved for history; no figure dominates, and the rocky landscape closes the horizon like a collective presence. A beggar's almsman in Ornans observes a social encounter without beautifying it. The alms of a beggar in Ornans observes a social encounter without beautifying it. The alms of a beggar in Ornans observes a social encounter without beautifying it. The views of the city, the waterfalls, the springs, the caves and the rocks explore the unique geology of the Jura. Courbet thickens the material, sometimes uses the knife and builds water or water stone as physical forces. Father Courbet's apple trees and family landscapes add a personal memory to the territory. Ornans is therefore neither a picturesque setting nor a nostalgic refuge: it is the place from which the painter affirms that his life, his neighbors and his soil deserve great painting. The "Ornans by Gustave Courbet" selection notably compares Cascade d’Ornans and Paysage à Ornans. His reading favors light.

Courbet does not return to Ornans to escape history: he finds there the ground from which to challenge what official painting judges worthy of being historical.