La femme au chat (Woman with a Cat)
Artist
Gustave Courbet
(French, 1819–1877)
Date1864
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 78.3 × 57.2 cm (30 13/16 × 22 1/2 in.)
framed: 101.4 × 85.1 × 10.2 cm (39 15/16 × 33 1/2 × 4 in.)
framed: 101.4 × 85.1 × 10.2 cm (39 15/16 × 33 1/2 × 4 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1940.300
Label TextA strong advocate for art that presented the subject objectively, Courbet was a lifelong provocateur, whose work challenged convention and inspired controversy. His landscapes featuring peasants engaged in hard labor—unidealized in their physical form—reflected a bold confrontation with traditional subjects as well as strong political convictions defined by opposition to the Emperor Napoléon III and belief in the principles of democracy. In the 1860s, he began painting erotic subjects—many much more explicit than this one. Like his earlier landscapes, these works offer further repudiation of the Academy: by traditional standards, their subjects were vulgar and executed in rough brushwork.ProvenanceWildenstein & Co., New York NYOn View
Not on view
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
1865–1870
