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The Source

1862
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 811

Rejecting the convention of showing an idealized, statuesque female figure based on classical models, in this work Courbet dropped the trappings of an academic allegory or, indeed, of a picture with a high-minded pretext. His picture of a woman embracing a cascade of water may have been a response to a work by Ingres exhibited in Paris the previous year, which depicts a hyper-idealized nude holding a jar from which water pours as an allusion to spring or a river source.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Source
  • Artist: Gustave Courbet (French, Ornans 1819–1877 La Tour-de-Peilz)
  • Date: 1862
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 47 1/4 x 29 1/4 in. (120 x 74.3 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
  • Object Number: 29.100.58
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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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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