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Top 30 Gustave Courbet Quotes (2025 Update)

Gustave Courbet Quote: “I have never seen an angel. Show me an angel, and I’ll paint one.”

1. “I have never seen an angel. Show me an angel, and I’ll paint one.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “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.”

2. “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

Gustave Courbet Quote: “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.”

3. “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

Gustave Courbet Quote: “I too am a government.”

4. “I too am a government.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “Painting is an essentially concrete art and can only consist of the representation of real and existing things. It is a completely physical language, the words of which consist of all visible objects. An object which is abstract, not visible, non-existent, is not within the realm of painting.”

5. “Painting is an essentially concrete art and can only consist of the representation of real and existing things. It is a completely physical language, the words of which consist of all visible objects. An object which is abstract, not visible, non-existent, is not within the realm of painting.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “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.”

6. “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

Gustave Courbet Quote: “Fine art is knowledge made visible.”

7. “Fine art is knowledge made visible.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “Painting is the representation of visible forms. The essence of realism is its negation of the ideal.”

8. “Painting is the representation of visible forms. The essence of realism is its negation of the ideal.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “The principle of realism means denial of the ideal.”

9. “The principle of realism means denial of the ideal.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “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.”

10. “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

Gustave Courbet Quote: “I deny that art can be taught, or, in other words, maintain that art is completely individual, and that the talent of each artist is but the result of his own inspiration and his own study of past tradition.”

11. “I deny that art can be taught, or, in other words, maintain that art is completely individual, and that the talent of each artist is but the result of his own inspiration and his own study of past tradition.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “I am not one who was born in the custody of wisdom; I am one who is fond of olden times and intense in quest of the sacred knowing of the ancients.”

12. “I am not one who was born in the custody of wisdom; I am one who is fond of olden times and intense in quest of the sacred knowing of the ancients.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “It is fatal for art if it is forced into official respectability and condemned to sterile mediocrity.”

13. “It is fatal for art if it is forced into official respectability and condemned to sterile mediocrity.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “It is not possible to have schools for painting; there are only painters. Schools have no use except for discerning the analytic procedures of art.”

14. “It is not possible to have schools for painting; there are only painters. Schools have no use except for discerning the analytic procedures of art.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “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.”

15. “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

Gustave Courbet Quote: “When I am no longer controversial, I will no longer be important.”

16. “When I am no longer controversial, I will no longer be important.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “I have never seen either angels or goddesses, so I am not interested in painting them.”

17. “I have never seen either angels or goddesses, so I am not interested in painting them.”

— Gustave Courbet

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

18. “Beauty lies in nature and reveals, once the artist has perceived it, its own expressive power.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “Painting is an essentially concrete art and can only consist of the representation of real and existing things.”

19. “Painting is an essentially concrete art and can only consist of the representation of real and existing things.”

— Gustave Courbet

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

20. “Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.”

21. “The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “To know in order to do, that was my idea. To be in a position to translate the customs, the ideas, the appearance of my time, according to my own estimation; to be not only a painter, but a man as well; in short, to create living art – this is my goal.”

22. “To know in order to do, that was my idea. To be in a position to translate the customs, the ideas, the appearance of my time, according to my own estimation; to be not only a painter, but a man as well; in short, to create living art – this is my goal.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “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.”

23. “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

Gustave Courbet Quote: “I hope to live all my life for my art, without abandoning my principles one iota.”

24. “I hope to live all my life for my art, without abandoning my principles one iota.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “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.”

25. “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

Gustave Courbet Quote: “The real artists are those who pick up their age exactly at the point to which it has been carried by preceding times. To go backward is to do nothing; it is pure loss; it means that one has neither understood nor profited by the lessons of the past.”

26. “The real artists are those who pick up their age exactly at the point to which it has been carried by preceding times. To go backward is to do nothing; it is pure loss; it means that one has neither understood nor profited by the lessons of the past.”

— Gustave Courbet

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

27. “Titles have never given a just idea of things; were it otherwise, the work would be superfluous.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “Art is a wholly physical language whose words are all the visible objects.”

28. “Art is a wholly physical language whose words are all the visible objects.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “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.”

29. “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

Gustave Courbet Quote: “France is the only nation in which astoundingly small numbers of civilized patrons reside.”

30. “France is the only nation in which astoundingly small numbers of civilized patrons reside.”

— Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet Quote: “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.”

31. “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

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