(

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: ''Desperation'' or ''The Desperate Man'') is an

oil-on-canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

self-portrait A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...

by , produced in 1843–1845, early during his stay in Paris. It is now in the private collection of the but was displayed in the 's 2007 Courbet exhibition. The Man Made Mad with Fear by Gustave Courbet

The Man Made Mad with Fear by Gustave Courbet

In the 1840s Courbet produced portraits of his friends and clients as well as self-portraits, including ''

Self-Portrait with a Black Dog ''Self-Portrait with a Black Dog'', ''Portrait of the Artist'' or ''Courbet with a Black Dog'' (French - ''Courbet au chien noir'') is an 1842 painting by Gustave Courbet, retouched by the artist in 1844. It is now in the Petit Palais in Paris. H ...

'' (1842). He spent time in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

copying works by

José de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring ...

, Zurbaran, Velasquez and

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

which started to influence his work. He broke from his traditional vertical format for the work. He was attached to , taking it with him when he went into exile in Switzerland in 1873. A few years later doctor Paul Collin's description of Courbet's studio included a mention of "a painting showing Courbet with a desperate expression, for this reason entitled ". Sylvain Amic, ''Catalogue de l'exposition Courbet au Grand Palais 2007''

References

Bibliography (in French)

''Courbet''
on the website of the
''Le désespéré''
a short video on Dailymotion * Coli Jorge
« L’Atelier de Courbet »
in : ''Art Absolument'', Autumn 2007, no. 22, p. 59–63 {{DEFAULTSORT:Desespere, Le Paintings by Gustave Courbet

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 ...

19th-century portraits 1845 paintings Romantic paintings