Gustave Courbet DVD - The Origin of His World

This documentary film, which lasts 52 minutes, can be viewed in English, French and German. It was directed by Romain Goupil and released on the occasion of the Courbet exhibition presented at the Galeries Nationales of the Grand Palais from October 2007 to the end of January 2008.

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), a painter of colourful real life, the earth and material things, was so caught up in his era that he lost himself in it. He paid for this dearly: wealthy and famous in his youth, he was later obliged to churn out paintings to avoid starvation.

Directing a film on Gustave Courbet means finding what drove the painter to focus on realism. It means grasping the work, and exploring it in colour and substance. It is also about following the artist in his certainty of being the best, in his rupture with classical painting and in his intense political involvement.
--Romain Goupil