The Origin of the World

The painting you're looking at now is The Origin of the World by Gustave Courbet. The title couldn't be more fitting. It's quite different from other nude paintings, isn't it? If you come from a culture with more conservative values, you might even wonder, "Is a painting like this really allowed to be displayed in a museum?" Once you see this work, it's likely to be the first painting that comes to mind whenever you hear Courbet's name.

Now, let's put our initial surprise aside and take a closer look at the story behind it. The painting was commissioned by Khalil Bey, an Ottoman diplomat living in Paris. As a Realist painter, Courbet depicted the subject as truthfully and directly as possible. When Khalil Bey first saw the finished painting, he was reportedly shocked by just how realistic it was.

Most nude paintings of the time omitted pubic hair altogether. Courbet, however, painted every detail without idealization. It's no surprise that the work caused such a sensation. Perhaps because it was too explicit to display openly in his home, Khalil Bey kept it hidden and showed it only to close friends.

Later, Khalil Bey lost his entire fortune through gambling and his affairs with women. The painting changed hands several times before it was eventually acquired by the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. Like its previous owner, Lacan also considered the painting too explicit to display openly. He kept it hidden behind another painting and showed it only to close friends. After Lacan's death, his heirs donated the painting to the French state, and since 1995, it has been on display here at the Musée d'Orsay.

Looking at this painting, you may find yourself wondering: "Who was the woman in this painting?" That was certainly my first question. And it seems that many visitors had the same curiosity when the painting was first exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay. For years, countless theories were proposed about the identity of the model.

Then, in 2018, the mystery was finally solved. Until then, countless Courbet scholars had tried to identify the woman in the painting, but none had succeeded. The mystery was finally solved by researchers studying the French writer Alexandre Dumas. Dumas is one of France's best-known authors. He is especially famous for writing The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Here's how the discovery was made. While studying letters exchanged between Dumas's son and the novelist George Sand, researchers came across a clue revealing that the model was Constance Quéniaux, a dancer with the Paris Opera. Constance Quéniaux was one of Khalil Bey's lovers.

In other words, Khalil Bey had a painting made of his lover's intimate body and kept it in his private collection, showing it only to close friends. By today's standards, it's not so different from privately sharing intimate photographs of a partner. If he had regarded the painting simply as a work of art, he could have displayed it openly in his home. The fact that he kept it hidden suggests that he understood exactly how provocative it was. Of course, Courbet would have painted it with her consent rather than in secret. But Khalil Bey was still a pretty terrible man.

Because The Origin of the World is such a famous painting, many other fascinating stories surround it. One of the most remarkable emerged in 2010. An amateur antique collector bought an old painting from a flea market. It was later discovered to be the missing face of the woman in The Origin of the World. Art experts examined it and concluded that, based on the canvas, the brushwork, and other technical evidence, the two paintings were originally one work. The Musée d'Orsay, however, has never officially commented on the claim.

There are a few more fascinating stories connected to this painting. One involves the French artist ORLAN, who created a parody titled The Origin of War. If you're curious, I encourage you to look it up later.

Another incident took place right here in front of this painting. The performance artist Deborah de Robertis sat in front of it without underwear, with her legs spread apart. Her performance asked a provocative question: "If a painted female body is considered art, why isn't the real body?" The Musée d'Orsay, however, saw the issue differently. The museum stated that the question wasn't whether the performance was art or obscenity. The real issue was whether she had followed the museum's rules. Since she hadn't, she was asked to leave. If you're curious, feel free to look up the images later.

That concludes our look at The Origin of the World, a painting that has inspired countless stories and debates.