Bather Sleeping by a Brook 1845

Gustave Courbet rendered this Bather Sleeping by a Brook with oil on canvas, and that material choice is key to how he represents the scene. See how the thick application of paint, especially in the body and drapery, gives the scene a heightened sense of physicality. This is not some ethereal vision, but a woman thoroughly present in the world. Courbet was known for using a palette knife as well as brushes, and you can imagine how that would allow him to build up the surface with such expressive energy. What’s truly radical here is that Courbet embraces the body as it is, without idealization. This was a deliberate riposte to the academic tradition, which valued an artificial polish above truthfulness. So, in a way, Courbet is aligning himself with the great tradition of labor – the value of honest work. He’s saying that the true subject of art is life itself, not some prettified version of it.