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The Young Bather

1866
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 811

The traditional theme of women bathing attracted Courbet’s attention repeatedly in the 1860s. This scene revisits a motif that excited a furor of controversy when the artist first broached it a decade earlier: a realistically fleshy nude at water’s edge in a woodland setting. But by the time the present work was exhibited, viewers were more accepting of Courbet’s approach. One writer praised this "beautiful girl" dipping her toes in the water as "health itself, with an ample and plump silhouette . . . . One could not be more independent or more true."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Young Bather
  • Artist: Gustave Courbet (French, Ornans 1819–1877 La Tour-de-Peilz)
  • Date: 1866
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 51 1/4 x 38 1/4 in. (130.2 x 97.2 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
  • Object Number: 29.100.124
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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Self-Portrait, Gustave Courbet French, Conté crayon
Self-Portrait
Gustave Courbet
ca. 1866
Young Communards in Prison (Les Fédérés à la Conciergerie), Gustave Courbet French, Black chalk, stumped
Young Communards in Prison (Les Fédérés à la Conciergerie)
Gustave Courbet
1871
Man with Upraised Arm, Possibly a Self-Portrait , Gustave Courbet French, Black and white chalk over graphite on papier bleuté, relined.

Man with Upraised Arm, Possibly a Self-Portrait

Gustave Courbet
ca. 1840
Apples, Gustave Courbet French, Oil on canvas
Apples
Gustave Courbet
A Brook in the Forest, Gustave Courbet French, Oil on canvas
A Brook in the Forest
Gustave Courbet
ca. 1868–77

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