"A builder. A rough and ready plasterer. A colour grinder. He [Gustave Courbet] is like a Roman bricklayer. And yet he's another true painter. There's no one in this century that surpasses him. Even though he rolls up his sleeves, plugs up his ears, demolishes columns, his workmanship is classical!.. .His view was always compositional. His vision remained traditional. Like his palette-knife, he used it only out of doors. He was sophisticated and brought his work to a high finish.. .His great contribution is the poetic introduction of nature - the smell of damp leaves, mossy forest cuttings - into nineteenth century painting; the murmur of rain, woodlands shadows, sunlight moving under trees. The sea. And snow, he painted snow like no one else!"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Quote by Paul Cézanne from 'What he told me – II. The Louvre', in Joachim Gasquet's Cézanne, - a Memoir with Conversations, (1897 - 1906); Thames and Hudson, London 1991 p. 198
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gustave_Courbet
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Gustave Courbet
Gustave Courbet (10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who was a leading figure in the Realist movement of 19th-century French painting.
55 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Gustave Courbet →
Related Quotes
"In the coming year I must do a large painting which will definitely get me recognized for what I truly am, for I want…"
"[T]here's nothing harder in the world than making art, particularly when no one understands it. Women want portraits …"
"It is the most wretched spectacle you can imagine. I won't fight for two reasons: firstly because I have no faith in …"
"I've already done studies [for his large-scale painting w:The Burial at Ornans ] of the mayor, who weighs 400, the pa…"
"It is not often that one encounters so complete an expression of poverty and so, right then and there I got the idea …"
"[I]n our civilized society I must lead the life of a savage. I must free myself even from governments. My sympathies …"
"[I] painted the very people who had been present at the interment, all the townspeople."
"I heard the comments of the crowd in front of the painting of Burial at Ornans, I had the courage to read the nonsens…"
"In spite of being assailed by hypochondria, I have launched into an enormous painting 20 feet by 12, perhaps even big…"
"We finally saw the sea, the horizonless sea – how odd for a mountaindweller. We saw the beautiful boats that sail on …"