Seashore with Boulders

10 June 1819

Born

1839

Goes to Paris, promising his father to study law

In 1839 Courbet left for Paris, promising his father to study law, but instead began working in art studios, above all with Karl Steuben. At the Louvre he got to know the collections, and his early work was strongly influenced by the Little Dutch Masters and the Spanish painters, especially Velázquez.

1855

Stages the “Pavilion of Realism”

Refusing to accept the jury's decision, Courbet asked museums and private owners to lend his paintings, had a separate building erected and showed about forty canvases there, without state permission, under the Second Empire. The public was baffled and laughed at the “crude art”, and the critics mocked him; the paintings were appreciated by Delacroix and Baudelaire.

16 May 1871

The fall of the Vendôme Column

On 16 May 1871, nine days before the fall of the Commune, the column whose removal Courbet had requested back in September 1870 was pulled down in a large ceremony with military bands and photographers and broke into pieces. Some witnesses said Courbet was there, others denied it.

1873

Leaves for Switzerland to escape the debt for the column

In 1873 the newly elected president of the Republic, Patrice de MacMahon, announced plans to rebuild the column at Courbet's expense. Unable to pay, he went into self-imposed exile in Switzerland to avoid bankruptcy and remained there until his death.

31 December 1877

Died