Gustave Courbet. Ulf Küster

Ophelia motif, which exists in numerous versions, to the extent that he also painted a picture of a woman bathing in a stream in a very similar pose—who, however, is undressed and surely not about to take her own life (Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum, Cairo). Courbet used this motif again in his painting Trois baigneuses (Three Bathers, 1865–68), rotating it by ninety degrees in the process and turning a woman reclining in the water into one who is slipping vertically into the pool. Quite an unusual procedure.6

      Gustave Courbet, Trois baigneuses (Three Bathers), 1865–68, oil on paper on canvas, 126 × 96 cm, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris

      Delacroix and Courbet surely observed each other quite closely. Their—more or less concealed—reactions are a leitmotif in this book, whose seven essays serve as an introduction to selected aspects of Gustave Courbet’s life and work. It is published on the occasion of the exhibition devoted to Courbet at the Fondation Beyeler. Courbet plays with the expectations of his viewers and the treatment of color; the hidden references to classic art-historical iconography and emphasis on his individuality as an artist make him a seminal figure in the transition from tradition to modernity. He is an artist whose work also fascinates those who are not concerned with art on a daily basis. And perhaps this little book will contribute to the desire to take a fresh look at Courbet and rediscover his immensely rich oeuvre and compelling life.