Brief Biography-Jean Desire Gustave Courbet grew up on a farm in Ornans, France. He first took art lessons at the age of fourteen, and at eighteen, he studied at the Academy in the town of Besancon before going to Paris two years later. He struggled to survive for the first ten years in Paris, depending solely on family support. Then, in 1847, his mistress Virginie Binet bore him a son. Finally, in 1848, a Dutch dealer brought him to Holland and commissioned work from him.
Back in Paris, he became involved with a semi-political group that frequented the Brasserie Andler near his studio, nicknamed the Temple of Realism; this was where the term Realism began as a style of art. Courbet sided with the rebellion in 1848, and when the Salon reopened, he had several of his works exhibited. In 1855, he staged a special exhibition under Realism alongside official displays at the World Exhibition, which had rejected his paintings. His work was criticised much in Paris because he depicted peasant scenes conceived by some as political statements.
He travelled to Frankfurt, where he was treated with great respect and given a studio. Then, he went to Trouville, where he met James Whistler and painted portraits and seascapes. He painted with Monet in Etretat and exhibited in various European countries. In 1869, he received a gold medal from Leopold II of Belgium and the Order of Saint Michael from Ludwig II of Bavaria. In 1870, he turned down the Legion of Honour because he saw it as state interference in art.
When the government fell, he became a member and Councillor of the Commune. When the Commune failed, he was arrested and given six months in prison with a 500 franc fine in 1871. During these years, his son died, and his health failed. He fled to the Jura Mountains in Switzerland near his homeland and lived in La Tour de Peilz, where he drank a lot but continued to paint. In 1877, he contracted dropsy and died. His remains went to Ornans in1919.