Woman with a Parrot

Gustave Courbet French

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 811


When this painting was shown in the Salon of 1866, some critics censured Courbet's "lack of taste" as well as his model's "ungainly" pose and "disheveled hair." Yet they were not unanimous, and the French state briefly considered purchasing it. Courbet himself wrote: "After twenty-five years of struggle, I am still fighting; and today I am still doing exactly the same kind of painting that in the beginning unleashed the entire official world against me . . . . " The provocative picture found favor with a younger generation of artists. Manet began his version of the subject (89.21.3) the same year; and Cézanne apparently carried a small photograph of the present work in his wallet.

#6122. Woman with a Parrot

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Woman with a Parrot, Gustave Courbet (French, Ornans 1819–1877 La Tour-de-Peilz), Oil on canvas

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