("The Origin of the World") is a picture painted in oil on canvas by the French artist
Gustave Courbet
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...
in 1866. It is a close-up view of the
vulva
The vulva (plural: vulvas or vulvae; derived from Latin for wrapper or covering) consists of the external sex organ, female sex organs. The vulva includes the mons pubis (or mons veneris), labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, bulb of vestibu ...
and
abdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...
of a naked woman, lying on a bed with legs spread.
History
Identity of the model
![The Origin of the World (upper section)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/The_Origin_of_the_World_%28upper_section%29.jpg)
Art historians had speculated for years that Courbet's model for was his favourite model,
Joanna Hiffernan
Joanna Hiffernan (1843 – 1886) or Joanna Heffernan was an Irish artists' model and muse who was romantically linked with American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler and French painter Gustave Courbet. In addition to being an artists' ...
, also known as Jo. Her lover at the time was the American painter
James Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...
, a friend of Courbet.
![Gustave Courbet - Jo, la belle Irlandaise (MET-Museum)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Gustave_Courbet_-_Jo%2C_la_belle_Irlandaise_%28MET-Museum%29.jpg)
Hiffernan was the subject of a series of four portraits by Courbet titled
''Jo, la belle Irlandaise'' (''Jo, the beautiful Irishwoman'') painted in 1865–66. The possibility that she was the model for
or that she was having an affair with Courbet might explain Courbet's and Whistler's brutal separation a short while later.
[Dorothy M. Kosinski (1988)]
"Gustave Courbet's ''The Sleepers'' The Lesbian Image in Nineteenth Century French Art and Literature"
''Artibus et Historiae'', Vol. 9, No. 18 , p.187 In spite of Hiffernan's
red hair
Red hair (also known as orange hair and ginger hair) is a hair color found in one to two percent of the human population, appearing with greater frequency (two to six percent) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and ...
contrasting with the darker pubic hair of , the hypothesis that Hiffernan was the model continues. Redhead Jacky Colliss Harvey puts forward the idea that the woman's body-hair suggests a more obvious candidate might be the brunette painted with Hiffernan in Courbet's ''
Le Sommeil
''Le Sommeil'' (translated in English variously as ''The Sleepers'' and ''Sleep'') is an eroticDorothy M. KosinskiGustave Courbet's ''The Sleepers.'' The Lesbian Image in Nineteenth Century French Art and Literature Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 9, N ...
''; and that the identification with Hiffernan has been greatly influenced by the eroticised and sexualised image of the female redhead.
![Melle Queniaux opéra (ballet) par Nadar (1820-1910)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Melle_Queniaux_op%C3%A9ra_%28ballet%29_par_Nadar_%281820-1910%29.jpg)
In February 2013, ''
Paris Match
''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly news magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features.
History and profile
A sports news magazine, ''Match l'intran'' (a play on ''L'Intransigeant' ...
'' reported that Courbet expert Jean-Jacques Fernier had authenticated a painting of a young woman's head and shoulders as the upper section of which according to some was severed from the original work. Fernier has stated that because of the conclusions reached after two years of analysis, the head will be added to the next edition of the Courbet
catalogue raisonné
A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...
.
[Henry Samuel (7 February 2013)]
"Amateur art buff finds £35 million head of Courbet masterpiece"
''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
''. The
Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...
has indicated that ''L'Origine du monde'' was not part of a larger work. ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' reported that "experts at the
rench
The Rench is a right-hand tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau (Baden (Land), Central Baden, Germany). It rises on the southern edge of the Northern Black Forest at Kniebis near Bad Griesbach im Schwarzwald. The source farthest from the mouth is ...
art research centre CARAA (Centre d'Analyses et de Recherche en Art et Archéologie) were able to align the two paintings via grooves made by the original wooden frame and lines in the canvas itself, whose grain matched."
According to CARAA, it performed pigment analyses which were identified as classical pigments of the 2nd half of the 19th century. No other conclusions were reported by the CARAA. The claim reported by ''Paris Match'' was characterized as dubious by ''
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'' art critic
Philippe Dagen, indicating differences in style, and that canvas similarities could be caused by buying from the same shop.
Documentary evidence however links the painting with
Constance Quéniaux
Constance Adolphine Quéniaux (9 July 1832 – 7 April 1908) was a dancer and courtesan at the Paris Opera Ballet. She is the presumed model for Gustave Courbet's painting ''L'Origine du monde'', in which a woman is seen explicitly displaying her g ...
, a former dancer at the
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...
and a mistress of the Ottoman diplomat
Halil Şerif Pasha
Halil Şerif Pasha, transliterated variously as Khalil Sherif Pasha ( sq, Halil Sherif Pasha, 20 June 1831 – 12 January 1879), was an Ottoman-Egyptian statesman, diplomat and art collector, who lived during the Tanzimat period. His colle ...
(Khalil Bey) who commissioned the painting.
According to the historian Claude Schopp and the head of the
French National Library
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
's prints department, Sylvie Aubenas, the evidence is found in correspondence between
Alexandre Dumas fils
Alexandre Dumas (; 27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895) was a French author and playwright, best known for the romantic novel ''La Dame aux Camélias'' (''The Lady of the Camellias''), published in 1848, which was adapted into Giuseppe Verdi's ...
and
George Sand
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...
.
Another potential model was
Marie-Anne Detourbay
Marie-Anne Detourbay (18 January 1837 – 21 January 1908) was a French demimonde and salon-holder. She was a famous courtesan during the Second Empire, and also hosted a literary salon which had some influence during the Second Empire and the Th ...
, who also was a mistress of Halil Şerif Pasha.
Owners
Halil Şerif Pasha (Khalil Bey), an Ottoman diplomat, is believed to have commissioned the work shortly after he moved to Paris.
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (; 23 December 1804 – 13 October 1869) was a French literary critic.
Early life
He was born in Boulogne, educated there, and studied medicine at the Collège Charlemagne in Paris (1824–27). In 1828, he se ...
introduced him to Courbet and he ordered a painting to add to his personal collection of erotic pictures, which already included (''The Turkish Bath'') from
Ingres
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( , ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...
and another painting by Courbet, ''
Le Sommeil
''Le Sommeil'' (translated in English variously as ''The Sleepers'' and ''Sleep'') is an eroticDorothy M. KosinskiGustave Courbet's ''The Sleepers.'' The Lesbian Image in Nineteenth Century French Art and Literature Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 9, N ...
'' (''The Sleepers''), for which it is supposed that Hiffernan was one of the models.
![Halil Sherif Pasha](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Halil_Sherif_Pasha.jpg)
After Khalil Bey's finances were ruined by gambling, the painting subsequently passed through a series of private collections. It was first bought during the sale of the Khalil Bey collection in 1868, by antique dealer Antoine de la Narde.
Edmond de Goncourt
Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt (; 26 May 182216 July 1896) was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt.
Biography
Goncourt was born in Nancy. His parents, Marc-Pierre Huot d ...
hit upon it in an antique shop in 1889, hidden behind a wooden pane decorated with the painting of a castle or a church in a snowy landscape. According to
Robert Fernier, who published two volumes of the Courbet catalogue raisonné and founded the
Musée Courbet
The Musée Courbet or Courbet Museum is a museum dedicated to the French painter Gustave Courbet. It is located in Ornans in the Doubs- Franche-Comté area of France.
History
The Musée Courbet occupies the birthplace of French realist painter G ...
, Hungarian collector Baron
Ferenc Hatvany
Baron Ferenc Hatvany (29 October 1881 – 7 February 1958) was a Hungarian painter and art collector. A son of Sándor Hatvany-Deutsch and a member of the , he graduated in the Académie Julian in Paris. His collection included paintings by Ti ...
bought it at the
Bernheim-Jeune
Bernheim-Jeune gallery is one of the oldest art galleries in Paris.
Opened on Rue Laffitte in 1863 by Alexandre Bernheim (1839-1915), friend of Delacroix, Corot and Courbet, it changed location a few times before settling on Avenue Matignon. Th ...
gallery in 1910 and took it with him to Budapest. Towards the end of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the painting was looted by
Soviet troops, but later ransomed by Hatvany. Hatvany left Hungary, which was on the brink of a Communist takeover, in 1947. He was allowed to take only one art work with him, and he took to Paris.
In 1955 was sold at auction for 1.5 million francs, about US$4,285 at the time. Its new owner was the psychoanalyst
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, , ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud", Lacan gave yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, and pu ...
. He and his wife, actress
Sylvia Bataille
Sylvia Bataille (born Sylvia Maklès; 1 November 1908 – 22 December 1993) was a French actress of Romanian-Jewish descent. When she was twenty, she married the writer Georges Bataille with whom she had a daughter, the psychoanalyst Laurence Bata ...
, installed it in their country house in
Guitrancourt
Guitrancourt () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.
Philosopher Jacques Lacan owned a local mansion called Prévôté. He lived there from 1955 until his death in 1981 and was buried at ...
. Lacan asked
André Masson
André-Aimé-René Masson (4 January 1896 – 28 October 1987) was a French artist.
Biography
Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, but when he was eight his father's work took the family first briefly to Lille and then to Brussel ...
, his stepbrother, to build a double bottom frame and draw another picture thereon. Masson painted a surrealist, allusive version of .
The New York public had the opportunity to view in 1988 during the ''Courbet Reconsidered'' show at the
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...
; the painting was also included in the exhibition ''Gustave Courbet'' at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
in 2008. After Lacan died in 1981, the French Minister of Economy and Finances agreed to settle the family's
inheritance tax
An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died.
International tax law distinguishes between an es ...
bill through the transfer of the work ( in French law) to the
Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...
; the transfer was finalized in 1995.
Provocative work
During the 19th century, the display of the nude body underwent a revolution whose main activists were Courbet and
Manet
A wireless ad hoc network (WANET) or mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points ...
. Courbet rejected academic painting and its smooth, idealised nudes, but he also directly recriminated the hypocritical social conventions of the
Second Empire Second Empire may refer to:
* Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783
* Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396)
* Second French Empire (1852–1870)
** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...
, where
eroticism
Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...
and even
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, were acceptable in
mythological
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
or
oneiric Oneiric most commonly refers to:
* Dreams, during sleep
* Oneirology, the science of dreams
Oneiric may also refer to:
* Oneiric (film theory), dreams as a metaphor for film—or in critiques thereof
* ''Oneiric'' (album), 2006, by Boxcutter
* ' ...
paintings.
Courbet later insisted he never lied in his paintings, and his
realism
Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to:
In the arts
*Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts
Arts movements related to realism include:
*Classical Realism
*Literary realism, a move ...
pushed the limits of what was considered presentable. With , he has made even more explicit the eroticism of Manet's ''
Olympia
The name Olympia may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games
* ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...
''.
Maxime Du Camp
Maxime Du Camp (8 February 1822 – 9 February 1894) was a French writer and photographer.
Biography
Born in Paris, Du Camp was the son of a successful surgeon. After finishing college, he indulged in his strong desire for travel, thanks to ...
, in a harsh tirade, reported his visit to the work's purchaser, and his sight of a painting "giving realism's last word".
![Courbet-origine-monde](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Courbet-origine-monde.jpg)
By the very nature of its realistic, graphic nudity, the painting still has the power to shock and triggers censorship.
Although moral standards and resulting taboos regarding the artistic display of nudity have changed since Courbet, owing especially to
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
and
cinema
Cinema may refer to:
Film
* Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography
* Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image
** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
...
, the painting remained provocative. Its arrival at the Musée d'Orsay caused high excitement. According to postcard sales, in 2007 was the second most popular painting in the Musée d'Orsay, after
Renoir's ''
Bal du moulin de la Galette
''Bal du moulin de la Galette'' (commonly known as ''Dance at Le moulin de la Galette'') is an 1876 painting by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It is housed at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and is one of Impressionism's most celebrated masterpi ...
''.
Some critics maintain that the body depicted is not (as has been argued) a lively erotic portrayal of a female but of a corpse: "''L'Origine'' does not represent a full female body but rather a slice of one, cut off by the frame
.. The pallidness of the skin and the mortuary gauze surrounding the body suggest death."
Influence
The explicitness of the picture may have served as an inspiration, albeit with a satirical twist, for
Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
's last major work, ''
Étant donnés
''Étant donnés'' (''Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas'', French: ''Étant donnés: 1° la chute d'eau / 2° le gaz d'éclairage'') is Marcel Duchamp's last major artwork, which surprised the art world because it believed he had g ...
'' (1946–1966), a construction also featuring the image of a woman lying on her back with her legs spread.
In 1989, French artist
Orlan
orlan is an internationally recognized French artist.
She is not tied to any one material, technology, or artistic practice. She uses sculpture, photography, performance, video, 3D, video games, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and ro ...
created the
cibachrome
Ilfochrome (also commonly known as Cibachrome) is a dye destruction positive-to-positive photographic process used for the reproduction of film transparencies on photographic paper. The prints are made on a dimensionally stable polyester base as ...
''L'origine de la guerre'' (''The Origin of War''), a male version of ''L'origine du monde'' showing a
penile erection
An erection (clinically: penile erection or penile tumescence) is a physiological phenomenon in which the penis becomes firm, engorged, and enlarged. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular, ...
.
Brazilian artist
Vik Muniz
Vik Muniz (; born 1961) is a Brazilian artist and photographer. Initially a sculptor, Muniz grew interested with the photographic representations of his work, eventually focusing completely on photography. Primarily working with unconventional ma ...
created two versions of the famous painting. "The first
999 999 or triple nine most often refers to:
* 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries
* 999 (number), an integer
* AD 999, a year
* 999 BC, a year
Books
* ''999'' (anthology) or ''999: T ...
is a photograph made of dust or dirt, which plays with the common moralist association between female genitalia and filth. In the second piece
013 Muniz remakes ''L'Origine'' from an assemblage of journal clippings that are reminiscent of the anatomic and artistic procedure of cutting that produced
..the female body."
''Two Origins of the World'' (2000) by Mexican artist
Enrique Chagoya "recycles ''L'Origine du monde'' as a spectral backdrop behind three solid black, blue and white squares of canvas in three of the corners of the painting. In the foreground of the bottom right corner, an indigenous man sits at a fourth canvas, this one on an easel, apparently 'interpreting' the Courbet painting."
In 2002, American artist
Jack Daws created an homage to the painting. Entitled ''Origins of the World'', it is a collection of various photographs of vulvas, taken from pornographic magazines, and framed in montage.
The British artist
Anish Kapoor
Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor (born 12 March 1954) is a British-Indian sculptor specializing in installation art and conceptual art. Born in Mumbai, Kapoor attended the elite all-boys Indian boarding school The Doon School, before moving to the UK ...
created an installation in 2004 called ''L'Origine du monde'', which references Courbet's painting. The piece is in the
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa in Japan.
The image is also referenced as inspiring
Catherine Breillat
Catherine Breillat (; born 13 July 1948) is a French filmmaker, novelist and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School. In the film business for over 40 years, Catherine Breillat chooses to normalize previously taboo subjects in ...
's filming of the female genitalia in her 2004 film (''
Anatomy of Hell
''Anatomy of Hell'' (french: Anatomie de l'enfer) is a 2004 erotic drama film written and directed by Catherine Breillat, based on her 2001 novel ''Pornocratie''. According to Breillat, ''Anatomy of Hell'' is a "sequel" to ''Romance''.
Plot
Tee ...
'').
The Serbian
performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
ist
Tanja Ostojić parodied the work in a poster in 2005, informally called the "EU panties" poster. Like Courbet's painting, the poster proved controversial, and was ultimately removed from the art exhibition in which it was originally displayed.
The French artist
Bettina Rheims
Bettina Caroline Germaine Rheims (; born 18 December 1952) is a French photographer.
Career Early stages
Bettina Rheims was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Her photographic career began in 1978, when she took a series of photos of a group of strip- ...
closes ''The Book of Olga'' (2008) with a photo of protagonist
Olga Rodionova
Olga Rodionova (born 25 June 1974) is a Croatian-Russian model, actress and TV presenter.
Career
As a model, Rodionova has worked with some of the best fashion photographers in the world, including Helmut Newton, David LaChapelle, Peter Lindberg ...
depicting ''L'Origine du monde'' almost completely. The few differences represent the evolution of tastes from the 19th to the 21st centuries: perfectly depilated genitalia with clitoral piercing jewelry and an intimate tattoo of Olga Rodionova, in comparison to natural hairy look of Constance Quéniaux. The controversial book gained wide fame and became the subject of a legal fight in Russia.
On 23 February 2009 in
Braga
Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
, Portugal,
the police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police ...
confiscated the book ''Pornocratie'' by Catherine Breillat, displayed in bookshops using as its cover. A great deal of controversy was sparked by the police action. The reason given was the need to maintain public order. Also, the book title incorrectly hinted at pornographic content. Portuguese law forbids public displays of pornography.
In 2010, British composer
Tony Hymas
Anthony James Keith "Tony" Hymas (born 23 September 1943) is an English keyboard player, pianist, and composer.
Career
Hymas started as a chorister at Exeter Cathedral School, where his contemporaries included composer and cathedral organist ...
composed a
musical suite
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the na ...
dedicated to the picture as well as relations between Courbet and the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
, based on texts by Courbet himself,
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...
and
Pierre Dupont
Pierre Dupont (23 April 1821 – 25 July 1870) was a French songwriter.
Dupont was born in Lyon as the son of a blacksmith. His mother died before he was five years old, and he was brought up in the country by his godfather, a village priest ...
.
The German-born Turkish artist
Taner Ceylan
Taner Ceylan (born 1967) is a German-born Turkish photo-realist artist. He lives and works in Istanbul.
Biography
Taner Ceylan studied painting in the Fine Arts Faculty at Mimar Sinan University between 1986 - 1991. He then worked for the Fine ...
has painted a work named ''1879 (From the Lost Paintings Series)'' (2011) in which a veiled Ottoman noblewoman stands before the framed canvas of ''L'Origine du monde''.
On 29 May 2014, a Luxembourg performance artist,
Deborah De Robertis, sat on the floor in front of the painting and mimicked the view of the subject. This resulted in security guards closing the room and her arrest.
US artist
Candice Lin
Candice Lin (born 1979) is an interdisciplinary artist who works in installation, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, and video. Her work is multi-sensorial and often includes living and organic materials and processes.
Lin lives and works in Los Angel ...
recreated ''L'Origine du monde'' in a video of her an audiovisual sculpture ''Hunter Moon / Inside Out'' (2015). In it, ''Courbet's L'Origine du monde with eyes'' "looks back at the onlookers." From a feminist point of view, Lin's work challenges "the asymmetry of power
..between those who look and those who are seen."
Censorship and legal battles
In February 1994, the novel (''Perpetual Adorations'') by reproduced on its cover. Police visited several French bookshops to have them withdraw the book from their windows. A few proprietors maintained the book, but others complied, and some voluntarily removed it.
In February 2011,
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
censored after it was posted by Copenhagen-based artist Frode Steinicke, to illustrate his comments about a television program aired on DR2. Following the incident, many other Facebook users defiantly changed their profile pictures to the Courbet painting in an act of solidarity with Steinicke. Facebook, which originally disabled Steinicke's profile, finally re-enabled it without the picture. As the case won media attention, Facebook deleted other pages about the painting.
In October 2011, again, a complaint was lodged against Facebook with the
Tribunal de grande instance de Paris
The ''Tribunal judiciaire de Paris'' (abbreviated TJ; in English: ''Judicial Court of Paris''), located at the Judicial Campus of Paris in Batignolles, is the largest court in France by caseload. It replaced the capital's former ''Tribunal de gra ...
(Paris court of general jurisdiction) by a French Facebook user after his profile was disabled for showing a picture of . The picture was a link to a television program aired on
Arte
Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture.
It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...
about the history of the painting. As he got no answer to his emails to Facebook, he decided to lodge a complaint for "infringement of freedom of expression" and against the legality of Facebook's terms which define the courts located in Santa Clara County, California, as the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all litigating claims. In February 2016, the Paris court ruled that Facebook could be sued in France.
In 2018 the French court ruled that Facebook had been wrong to close his account. Facebook has changed its policies to allow naked images in art works, and made a donation to a French street art association.
Filmography
*Jean Paul Fargier, , 1996, 26 minutes
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Musée d'Orsay: ''L'Origine du monde''
Musée d'Orsay: ''L'Origine du monde''
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20150217201825/http://www.caraa.fr/EN/detail-actu.php?actu=18 News from CARAA
Conference from Musée d'Orsay
of ''L'Origine du monde''
2018 BBC story
{{DEFAULTSORT:Origine Du Monde
1866 paintings
Censorship in the arts
Paintings in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay
Erotic art
Nude art
Paintings by Gustave Courbet
Vagina and vulva in art
Sexuality in arts
Obscenity controversies in painting