Gustave Courbet Quotes & Sayings

When I am no longer controversial, I will no longer be important — Gustave Courbet

I have never seen either angels or goddesses, so I am not interested in painting them. — Gustave Courbet

Art is a wholly physical language whose words are all the visible objects. — Gustave Courbet

I too am a government. — Gustave Courbet

I hope to live all my life for my art, without abandoning my principles one iota. — Gustave Courbet

I have studied the art of the masters and the art of the moderns, avoiding any preconceived system and without prejudice. I have no more wanted to imitate the former than to copy the latter; nor have I thought of achieving the idle aim of art for art's sake. — Gustave Courbet

Titles have never given a just idea of things; were it otherwise, the work would be superfluous. — Gustave Courbet

When I am dead, let it be said of me: he belonged to no school, to no church, to no institution, to no academy, and least of all, to any regime except the regime of liberty. — Gustave Courbet

The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired. — Gustave Courbet

Beauty lies in nature and reveals, once the artist has perceived it, its own expressive power. — Gustave Courbet

Art in painting should consist only of the representation of things that are visible and tangible. — Gustave Courbet

The beautiful is in nature, and it is encountered under the most diverse forms of reality. Once it is found it belongs to art, or rather to the artist who discovers it. — Gustave Courbet

I am not one who was born in the custody of wisdom; I am one who is fond of olden times & intense in quest of the sacred knowing of the ancients. — Gustave Courbet

To be able to translate the customs, ideas and appearance of my times as I see them - in a word, to create a living art - this has been my aim. — Gustave Courbet

Painting is the representation of visible forms. The essence of realism is its negation of the ideal. — Gustave Courbet

Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it. — Gustave Courbet

The principle of realism means denial of the ideal. — Gustave Courbet

Painting is an essentially concrete art and can only consist of the representation of real and existing things. — Gustave Courbet

Without trying to clear up the degree of correctness of a qualification which no one, one must hope, will be asked to understand exactly, I will limit myself to a few words of explanation to cut short any misunderstandings. — Gustave Courbet

France is the only nation in which astoundingly small numbers of civilized patrons reside. — Gustave Courbet

I have never seen an angel. Show me an angel, and I'll paint one. — Gustave Courbet

Art or talent, for an artist, is merely a means of applying his personal faculties to the ideas and the things of the period in which he lives. — Gustave Courbet

When we see men of worth, we should think of equalling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inward and examine ourselves. — Gustave Courbet

Fine art is knowledge made visible. — Gustave Courbet