Gustave Courbet citáty

„Láska je velké v malém a malé ve velkém. Její podstata spočívá v detailu.“

—  Gustave Courbet

„Všichni jsme zrozeni k tomu, abychom milovali, avšak sotva k tomu, abychom byli milováni.“

—  Gustave Courbet

„Maluj, co vidíš, co cítíš a co chceš.“

—  Gustave Courbet

Zdroj: [Kalendárium, ceskatelevize.cz, 2011-03-21, http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/1095927644-kalendarium/3153-vyhledavani/?searchType=date&kMonth=12&kDay=31]

„Nikdo není větším milovníkem než ten, kdo je omezován tím, co miluje.“

—  Gustave Courbet

„Velikost lásky je v tom, že spěje od objevení hrubé lásky k poznání jejich jemností.“

—  Gustave Courbet

„Láska se zrodila, aby se toulala světem a neustále se vzrušovala jeho kouzlem; ne aby dřepěla doma za pecí a vysušovala se jako syrové dřevo. Je to vlastně přelétavý pták, který na chvilku u každého spočine.“

—  Gustave Courbet

„Nesmělost je nejen v rozporu s přirozeností milenců, ale odporuje samotným přírodním zákonům lásky.“

—  Gustave Courbet

„Myslím že se rána nedočkám“

—  Gustave Courbet

poslední slova

„I have never seen an angel. Show me an angel, and I'll paint one.“

—  Gustave Courbet

Courbet, c 1860's, later quoted by Vincent van Gogh in a letter to brother Theo (July, 1885); in The letters of Vincent van Gogh, ed. Ronal de Leeuw - Penguin, New York, 1996, p. 302
1860s

„The history of an era is finished with that era itself and with those of its representatives who have expressed it. It is not the task of modern times to add anything to the expression of former times to ennoble or embellish the past. What has been, has been. The human spirit must always begin work afresh in the present, starting off from acquired results. One must never start out from foregone conclusions proceeding from synthesis to synthesis, from conclusion to conclusion. The real artists are those who pick up their age exactly at the point to which it has been carried by preceding times.“

—  Gustave Courbet

1860s, Realist Manifesto' - an open letter, 1861

„It is the most wretched spectacle you can imagine. I won't fight for two reasons: firstly because I have no faith in waging war with guns and cannons, and it is not part of my creed. For ten years I have been fighting a war of wits. I would not be true to myself if I acted otherwise. Secondly, I have no weapons and I won't be persuaded. So you have nothing to fear where I am concerned“

—  Gustave Courbet

Quote from a letter to his parents, (June 1848); as cited 'Gustave Courbet', by Georges Riat, Parkstone International, 2015,
1840s - 1850s

„In the coming year I must do a large painting which will definitely get me recognized for what I truly am, for I want all or nothing. All those little paintings are not the only thing that I can do... I want to do large-scale painting. One thing is certain, that within five years, I must have a name in Paris; that is what I strive for. It's hard to get there, I know... To move faster I only lack one thing, and that's money, in order to boldly execute what I have in mind.“

—  Gustave Courbet

Quote from his letter (10 March 1845); as cited in 'Gustave Courbet', by Georges Riat, Parkstone International, 2015
very soon after this letter Courbet attacked a canvas of eight feet high and ten feet wide
1840s - 1850s

„I am fifty years old and I have always lived in freedom; let me end my life free; when I am dead let this be said of me: 'He belonged to no school, to no church, to no institution, to no academy, least of all to any régime except the régime of liberty.“

—  Gustave Courbet

In a letter of Gustave Courbet (1869); in Letters of Gustave Courbet, 1992, University of Chicago Press, transl. Petra Ten-Doesschate Chu, ISBN 0226116530
1860s

„Here I am, because of the People of Paris [ Paris Commune ], up to my neck in politics. President of the Federation of Artists, member of the Commune committee, city council delegate and delegate for Public Education: the four most important posts in Paris. I get up, I have breakfast, and I preside and sit on committees twelve hours a day. Now my head is starting to spin. But in spite of all this worry and trying to understand unfamiliar things, I am really happy..“

—  Gustave Courbet

Quote from a letter to his parents (30th April 1870); as cited in 'Courbet Speaks', 'Courbet-dossier', Musée-dOrsay http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/courbet-dossier/courbet-speaks.html
1870s

„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.“

—  Gustave Courbet

1840s - 1850s, Realist Manifesto', 1851/1855

„I cannot teach my art, nor the art of any school whatever, since I deny that art can be taught, or, in other words, I maintain that art is completely individual, and is, for each artist, nothing but the talent issuing from his own inspiration and his own studies of tradition.“

—  Gustave Courbet

1860s, Realist Manifesto' - an open letter, 1861

„An epoch can only be reproduced by its own artists, I mean by the artists who lived in it. I hold the artists of one century basically incapable of reproducing the aspect of a past or future century-in other words, of painting the past or the future.“

—  Gustave Courbet

1860s, Realist Manifesto' - an open letter, 1861

„Without expanding on the greater or lesser accuracy of a name which nobody, I should hope, can really be expected to understand, I will limit myself to a few words of elucidation in order to cut short the misunderstandings.“

—  Gustave Courbet

1840s - 1850s, Realist Manifesto', 1851/1855

„In as much as the Vendôme Column is a monument devoid of all artistic value, tending to perpetuate by its expression the ideas of war and conquest of the past imperial dynasty, which are reproved by a republican nation's sentiment, citizen Courbet expresses the wish that the National Defense government will authorize him to disassemble this column.“

—  Gustave Courbet

version in original French: * Attendu que la colonne Vendôme est un monument dénué de toute valeur artistique, tendant à perpétuer par son expression les idées de guerre et de conquête qui étaient dans la dynastie impériale, mais que réprouve le sentiment d'une nation républicaine, [le citoyen Courbet] émet le vœu que le gouvernement de la Défense nationale veuille bien l'autoriser à déboulonner cette colonne.
Quote in Courbet's official letter (4 September 1870), to the Government of National Defense - proposing that the column in the Place Vendôme in Paris, erected by Napoleon I - to honour the victories of the French Army - be taken down.
1870s