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

„I will contemplate the spectacle of your sea. The viewpoints of our mountains also offer us the limitless spectacle of immensity. The unfillable void has a calming effect... The sea! The sea with its charms saddens me. In its joyful moods, it makes me think of the laughing tiger; in its sad moods it recalls the crocodile’s tears, and in its roaring fury, the caged monster that cannot swallow me up.“

—  Gustave Courbet

Quote in Courbet's letter to Victor Hugo, 28 November 1864; as cited in Chu, Letters, p. 249; quoted in 'Paysages de Mer - Courbet's The Wave', by Anthony White https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/paysages-de-mer-courbets-the-wave/
1860s

„.. in our civilized society I must lead the life of a savage. I must free myself even from governments. My sympathies lies with the people; I must go to them directly. I must draw my wisdom from them, and they must give me life. For that reason I have just embarked on the grand, independent and vagabond life of the bohemian.“

—  Gustave Courbet

In a letter, (1850) to his friend Francis Wey; as quoted in 'Gustave Courbet', by Georges Riat, Parkstone International, 15 Sep 2015,
1840s - 1850s

„It is not often that one encounters so complete an expression of poverty and so, right then and there I got the idea for a painting. I told them to come to my studio the next morning.“

—  Gustave Courbet

Quote, 1850's explaining to Champfleury and the writer Francis Wey; as cited on Wikipedia; Masanès, Fabrice 2006, p. 31
Courbet explains in his quote the start of his painting 'Stone-Breakers' [painted in 1849-50 / destroyed in the Allied Bombing of Dresden in 1945]; this painting was inspired by a scene Courbet witnessed on the roadside.
1840s - 1850s

„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

„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

„I've already done studies [for his large-scale painting w:The Burial at Ornans ] of the mayor, who weighs 400, the parish priest, the justice of the peace, the cross bearer, the notary Marlet, the assistant mayor, my friends, my father, the choirboys, the grave digger, two old revolutionaries from [17]'93…“

—  Gustave Courbet

Remark to Champfleury, (End of 1849); as quoted in Gustave Courbet, by Georges Riat, Parkstone International, 15 Sep 2015,
1840s - 1850s

„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

„I have studied the art of the ancients and the art of the moderns, avoiding any preconceived system and without prejudice. I no longer wanted to imitate the one than to copy the other; nor, furthermore, was it my intention to attain the trivial goal of "art for art's sake". No! I simply wanted to draw forth, from a complete acquaintance with tradition, the reasoned and independent consciousness of my own individuality.“

—  Gustave Courbet

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

„We finally saw the sea, the horizonless sea – how odd for a mountaindweller. We saw the beautiful boats that sail on it. It is too inviting, one feels carried away, one would leave to see the whole world.“

—  Gustave Courbet

Quote from Courbet's letter to his parents (1841); as quoted in Image of the Sea: Oceanic Consciousness in the Romantic Century, Howard F. Isham, publisher: Peter Lang, 2004, Chapter 'Waterworlds', p. 307
reporting his experiences of a boat-trip with a friend over the Seine to the port of Le Havre; he made also a sketchbook of this trip in the Summer of 1841
1840s - 1850s