The Model Behind Courbet’s 'L’Origine du monde'

Bélinda Ibrahim, 09/09 19:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Gustave Courbet Model Culture Painting Constance Quéniaux

It is hard to imagine today the scandal Courbet’s painting sparked in 1866. Commissioned by Ottoman diplomat Khalil Bey, the canvas depicts, without embellishment, the genitals of a reclining woman — with no face and no background. Rendered with almost photographic realism, it disturbed, shocked, and unsettled. For more than a century, the ...