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 CourbetI 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 regime except the regime of liberty.'
Gustave CourbetPainting is the representation of visible forms. The essence of realism is its negation of the ideal.
Gustave CourbetFrance is the only nation in which astoundingly small numbers of civilized patrons reside.
Gustave Courbet