Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet painted four portraits of MadameLaure Borreau; this is the last and most highlydeveloped. As a Realist, Courbet aimed to representwhat he saw in the visible, tangible world. Herepresented Madame Borreau in a black silk dressembellished with lace and a matching hat. Goldand violet lights of sunset softly illuminate thebackground. However, the portrait is not idealized.Courbet’s inclusion of her shadowed eyes and full-fleshedneck prompted one critic to write, “I daresayin nature she may be very pretty, but in Courbet’spicture she is nothing less than offensive.”

Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962).

Year in Review - 1962

Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 19, 1963).

Style, Truth and the Portrait

Gustave Courbet. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France (October 1, 1977-January 2, 1978).

Courbet, Artist and Entrepeneur. Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland (November 21, 1998-February 21, 1999).

Courbet, Artist and Entrepeneur

Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (May 28-July 30, 2000).

Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections

Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Beijing World Art Museum (May 26-August 27, 2006); Mori Art Center (September 16-November 26, 2006); Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 15-June 1, 2008); Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (June 22-September 21, 2008); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 12, 2008-January 18, 2009).

Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art

1863 • PARIS • 1874: Revolution in Art - From the Salon to Impressionism. Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Köln, Germany (organizer) (March 15-July 28, 2024) https://www.wallraf.museum/ausstellungen/aktuell/2024-03-15-paris-1874/.

1863 • PARIS • 1874: Revolution in Art - From the Salon to Impressionism

Salon. Palais des Champs-Élysées, Paris, France. Salon (1863).

Exposition d'art français du XIXe siècle. Paul Rosenberg, Possibly Paris, France (1917).

Cinquante ans de peinture française. Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France (1925).

Portraits et figures de femmes. Ingres à Picasso. Galerie de La Renaissance, Paris, France (1928).

Exposition Gustave Courbet. Palais des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris (Petit Palais), Paris, France (1929).

Exposition d'oeuvres importantes de Grands Maîtres du dix-neuvième siècle. Galerie Paul Rosenberg, Paris, France (1931).

Loans in Honor of the Opening of the Avery Memorial. Wadsworth Athenaeum. Hartford, CT (1934).

Exposition Gustave Courbet. Paul Rosenberg, Paris, France (1937).

Honderd Jaar Fransche Kunst. Stedelijk Museum. Amsterdam, Netherlands (1938).

Gustave Courbet 1819-1877. London, Rosenberg &amp; Helft Ltd., London, United Kingdom (1938).

Great French Masters of the Nineteenth Century: Corot to Van Gogh. Paul Rosenberg &amp; Co. New York, NY (1942).

French Art of the 19th and 20th Centuries . Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Providence, RI (1942).

Art of the United Nations. M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA (1945).

Great French Masters of the 19th Century. Possibly Paul Rosenberg &amp; Co, New York, NY (November, 17 -December 6, 1947).

Exhibition of 19th Century French Paintings. Paul Rosenberg &amp; Co., New York, NY (1954).

Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Gustave Courbet. Paul Rosenberg &amp; Co., New York, NY (1956).

Gustave Courbet 1819-1877. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; (December 17, 1959-February 14, 1960); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (February 26, 1960-April 14, 1960).

Courbet in Private French Collections. Galerie Claude Aubry, Paris, France (May 5-June 25, 1966).

Gustave Courbet 1819-1877. Villa Medici, Rome, Italy (October 28, 1969-January 6, 1970).

Courbet 1819-1877. Galerie Daber, Paris, France (October 16 to November 15, 1975).

Gustave Courbet 1819-1877. Royal Academy, London, United Kingdom (January 19-March 19, 1977); Grand Palais, Paris, France (October 1, 1977-January 2, 1978).

Courbet und Deutschland. Stadische Galerie,Hamburg, Germany (October 19-December 17, 1978); Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, Germany (January 17-March 18, 1979).

Courbet Reconsidered. Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (November 4, 1988-January 16, 1989); Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN (February 18-April 30, 1989).

A vertically oriented oil painting depicts a woman with light skin tone looking out at us with a faint smile. She wears a black hat trailing a sheer veil and a dark dress featuring a patterned lace neckline and white lace cuffs. In her yellow glove, she holds a bouquet of pink and white flowers. Sweeping brushstrokes define a vibrant orange sunset sky on our right, contrasting with a dark mass on our left.

(Drouot, Paris, France, Artist's estate sale,  December 9, 1881, lot 11, stock number 2070, sold to Durand-Ruel)

(Durand-Ruel, Paris France, December 10, 1881, sold to Max Flersheim)

(Paul Rosenberg and Company, New York, NY by 1934, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1962)

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

The sitter is Laure Borreau, a friend of the artist. She owned a fabric store and ladies' confectionary. Gustave Courbet was interested in portraying ordinary people, rather than focusing on the wealthy and powerful or imagined historical or mythological figures.

Who is the sitter?

Courbet was the leader of the Realist movement, and in his paintings he attempted to show things as they were. His figures are not idealized. They are shown realistically, faults and all.

The Realists

Courbet was very politically active and was associated with the Socialist movement. He often painted images not only of townspeople, like the subject of this work, but also of peasants in the midst of backbreaking labor. He often claimed to be an uneducated peasant himself, although he grew up in a prosperous farming family.

Mme L . . . (Laure Borreau)

Gustave Courbet

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Mme L . . . (Laure Borreau)

Gustave Courbet

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Mme L . . . (Laure Borreau)

Gustave Courbet

Did You Know?

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Mme L . . . (Laure Borreau)

Gustave Courbet

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