Courbet was the first successful painter to use his platform and talent to incite social change, creating a template that artist-activists follow to this day. He inspired an entire generation of painters to defy conventional rules and experiment with subject matter and technique. Courbet believed it was an artist’s obligation to depict the world they live in with frank accuracy. He didn’t believe in categorizing art, saying of the genre he created, “the title of Realist was thrust upon me just as the title of Romantic was imposed upon the men of 1830. Titles have never given a true idea of things: if it were otherwise, the works would be unnecessary.” The grand irony of Courbet’s career is that the generation of artists following him carried on his revolutionary spirit with Impressionism, a visual antithesis of Realism. But, of course, those titles would be meaningless to Courbet because the integrity of the work is all that matters.
