GUSTAVE COURBET. REALIST AND REBEL
20.02.2026
LEOPOLD MUSEUM OPENS FIRST COMPREHENSIVE COURBET EXHIBITION IN AUSTRIA
The Leopold Museum is dedicating the first extensive monographic exhibition to the exceptional French artist Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) in Austria. Around 130 exhibits – including 90 paintings and 20 graphic works from all the periods of the artist’s oeuvre, as well as a large number of archival materials – afford a comprehensive overview of the painterly and graphic work of this pioneer of realism who, in his ground-breaking portraits, nudes, landscapes and still lifes, broke with the idealizing conventions of 19th-century art in a radical manner.
After years of intense conceptual preparations and strategic networking, the exhibition “Gustave Courbet. Realist and Rebel” has finally become a reality, and we are delighted to show our visitors this highly comprehensive solo exhibition. In light of the extraordinary extent of the artist’s oeuvre, we were tasked with making a careful selection that would be representative of all the periods of his work and accommodate all the facets of his art, both formally and in terms of content, in his roles as a painter, draftsman and political player. Gustave Courbet was an outstanding avant-gardist who kept defying conventions.
Hans-Peter Wipplinger, director of the Leopold Museum and curator of the exhibition
Break with Pictorial Worlds
Gustave Courbet recognized early on that scandals helped his success. He revolutionized the pictorial language of 19th-century art by making the visual reality of his time the subject of his art. Instead of historical and mythological subjects, he presented scenes from everyday life. He showcased ordinary people from his immediate environment – farmers, workers and other townsfolk – in monumental formats hitherto reserved to heroic figures. To Courbet, realism did not merely mean rendering reality but rather a programmatic orientation on the present, a deliberate dispensation with any kind of idealization and a near pastose manner of painting.
Courbet’s manner of depiction marks a decisive break with romanticizing painting. Through his intense use of the palette knife, he composed his pictures from various paint layers, one applied on top of the other, in an almost sculptural manner, and thus created a radically realistic, close-up visual cosmos which, rather than being deceptively illusionistic, was aimed at making materiality tangible. It is precisely this unconventional technique and manner of representation that made Courbet a pioneer of modern painting.
Niklaus Manuel Güdel, curator of the exhibition
Eminent International Loans
An early main work epitomizing this artistic re-orientation, and an indisputable highlight of the exhibition, is the painting After Dinner at Ornans (1849, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille). The large-format depiction of an everyday scene from his hometown received a prize at the Paris Salon and was acquired by the French government. It was the first time that an unspectacular motif, depicted on the scale of a large-format history painting, won an official distinction. That this painting, which is rarely loaned to exhibitions, is shown in Vienna underscores the importance of this presentation which unites numerous eminent loans from various international museums and private collections.
Courbet’s artistic position is closely linked to his understanding of autonomy. In his work The Meeting, also known as Bonjour Monsieur Courbet (1854, Musée Fabre, Montpellier), the painter greets his patron with confidence and on an equal footing, formulating his claim for independence. When too few of his works were included in the 1855 World’s Fair in Paris, he responded by building his own exhibition pavilion. This step marks a turning point in the relationship between artists and institutions, and is considered a milestone in modern exhibition practice.
The radicalness of his realism is further apparent in his painting The Origin of the World (1866). With his direct, unidealized rendering of the corporeality of this female nude, Courbet broke with traditional iconography and defied the moral conventions of his time. The work, which has been housed by the Musée d’Orsay since 1995 and which is now being shown only for the fourth time outside of France, is among the central exhibits of this Vienna retrospective.
Political Rebel
Courbet’s understanding of himself as an independent artist was also mirrored by his political activities. After the proclamation of the Third Republic in 1870, and especially during the time of the Paris Commune in 1871, he took on political responsibility in the cultural sector. Art and political commitment were closely linked in Courbet’s biography – in both areas, he was guided by his aspiration towards independence and his sense of social responsibility. Following the violent crushing of the Commune, he was arrested and later sentenced to paying exorbitant fines. His increasing political and financial isolation forced him into exile in Switzerland where he died in 1877 at the age of 58.
Exhibition in the Danube Metropolis
As early as 1873, Courbet had entertained the idea of presenting his works in the Danube metropolis in an extensive retrospective. He had high hopes for his appearance on the Viennese stage – hopes that were unfortunately not fulfilled during his lifetime. Now, more than 150 years later, it has finally been possible to realize Courbet’s ambitious wish for a comprehensive Vienna exhibition with this presentation at the Leopold Museum, which serves as an impressive reminder of his oeuvre’s continuous significance and relevance. Alongside his iconic chief works, the exhibition also focuses on aspects of his oeuvre that have received little attention up until now – including his drawings and defining period in exile – and places these facets into an art historical context. The impressive scope of the presentation ranges from early self-portraits, landscapes from his native Ornans, via hunting scenes, seascapes and depictions of grottos, to nudes and works created during his imprisonment and in exile. His drawings and graphic works are presented on a par with his paintings, and help to broaden our perspective of Courbet’s artistic practice.
Impact on Art into the Present
In the museum’s atrium, works by Yan Pei-Ming and Georg Baselitz enter into an imaginary dialogue with Courbet. The juxtaposition not only helps to understand Courbet’s technique and manner of painting but also underscores the currentness of this artist whose uncompromising understanding of autonomy and reality challenges art to this day.
Honorary Patronage and High Patronage of the Presidents of France, Germany and Austria
The exhibition has been placed under the honorary patronage of Alexander Van der Bellen, Federal President of the Republic of Austria, as well as under the high patronage of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and will be shown after Vienna at the Museum Folkwang in Essen.
The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue in German and English.
Curators: Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Niklaus Manuel Güdel
Opening Celebrations with Large Visitor Turnout
The exhibition’s ceremonial opening was attended by around 1,500 people, among them such eminent personalities as the French ambassador Matthieu Peyraud, the Belgian ambassador Caroline Vermeulen, the Swiss ambassador Salome Meyer, the Israeli ambassador David Roet, Gertrud Aichem-Degreif (cultural affairs consultant, German embassy), Florian Ronc (Swiss embassy in Austria), the Leopold Museum board members Josef Ostermayer, Sonja Hammerschmid and Saskia Leopold, Moritz Stipsicz (Managing Director, Leopold Museum), co-curator Niklaus Manuel Güdel, collectors Christa Kamm, Karlheinz Essl and Werner Trenker (MedTrust), Alexander Jolles (head of the foundation council of Stiftung Sammlung Kamm), artists Martha Jungwirth, Peter Hauenschild, Yan Pei-Ming, Peter Kogler, Rudi Molacek and Werner Reiterer, architects Hermann Eisenköck, Laurids Ortner, Manfred Ortner and Boris Podrecca, Stella Rollig (CEO Belvedere), Peter Gorschlüter (director Museum Folkwang), Kerstin Richter (director Sammlung Oskar Reinhart “am Römerholz”, Winterthur), Isolde Pludermacher (curator, Musée d’Orsay), Francesca Napoli, Eriko and Michel Urbain (M. Urbain Collection, Paris), Alexander Klar (director Hamburger Kunsthalle), Nicolas Misery (director Musée des beaux-arts Marseille), Ulrich Meinherz (Kesselhaus Josephsohn), catalogue authors Ségolène Le Men, Stephanie Marchal, Daniela Stöppel, Pierre Chessex, Bruno Mottin (honorary general conservator of heritage, Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France), lenders Konstantinos and Nilüfer Caglar Papageorgiou, Benjamin Foudral (director Musée Courbet, Ornans), Sabine Folie (director of the art collections of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts), Gabriele Caioni (director Moretti Fine Art), Corinne Cuéllar and Arturo Cuéllar-Nathan (Art Cuéllar-Nathan Kunsthandel), Hervé Novelli (president Institut Gustave Courbet, Ornans) and Laurence Novelli-Fernier, Juliette Singer (Palais des Beaux Arts de Lille), Carine Joly (curator, Institut Gustave Courbet, Ornans), Bettina Kaufmann, collectors and lenders Andreas and Hendrik Gerritzen, Josef Lindenberger, Peter Goldscheider, Silvie Aigner, Dorotheum experts Marianne Hussl-Hörmann, Bernhard Brandstätter and Christoph Schulenburg (Dorotheum), advertiser Mariusz Jan Demner, Waltraud Leopold, Sabine Haag (former CEO KHM), Christoph Thun-Hohenstein (former CEO MAK), gallery owners Arne Ehmann (director Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg), Karoline Hilger-Bartosch, Claudia Kovacek-Longin, Sophie Zetter-Schwaiger, Alexander Giese, violinist Yuri Revich, Stefan Ottrubay (chairman of Esterházy Foundations) and director Rico Gulda (Esterhazy Privatstiftung), Peter Umundum (deputy CEO Post AG), Barbara Potisk-Eibensteiner (CFO Post AG), Susanne Tabaka-Pillhofer and Jan Tabaka, Hans-Jürgen Lechtreck (deputy director Museum Folkwang), Peter Weinhäupl (Klimt Foundation), art historians Andrea Winklbauer, Markus Kristan and Thomas Zaunschirm, Peter Zimpel, graphic designer Nele Steinborn, Lisa Smit (curator, Van Gogh Museum), Christian Huemer (Research Center Belvedere), Uwe Schögl (ÖNB), Susanne Valoch (head of sponsoring, Wiener Städtische Versicherung), Elisabeth Vitouch, curator Roman Grabner, Wolfgang Sobotka (former president of the National Assembly) and Marlies Sobotka, Markus Reiter (borough mayor of Vienna’s Neubau district), Sabina Baumgartner-Parzer (MedUni Wien), Josef Meichenitsch (director OeNB), Thomas Steiner (director OeNB), Chiara Galbusera (curator of the art collections of OeNB), Katharin Lovecky (curator, Belvedere), journalist Karl Hohenlohe, Helmut Schoba (News publishing group), author Caroline Wohlgemuth, management consultant Agnes Schaumann, and many others.
GUSTAVE COURBET. REALIST AND REBEL
19th February–21st June 2026 | LEVEL -1
Photo gallery of the exhibition opening
The exhibition was created in cooperation with the
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