The Origin of the World

Painted in 1866 by Gustave Courbet, this is one of the most talked about works in French art. It shows a woman's nude torso, cropped tightly so we see only her body from the thighs to the chest, framed by rumpled white sheets. Courbet made it on a private commission from a Turkish-Egyptian diplomat named Khalil-Bey, who kept it hidden behind a curtain in his home. For most of its life this painting stayed out of public view, passing quietly from one private collection to another, and it did not go on display in a museum until it entered the Musée d'Orsay in Paris in 1995.

Courbet was a leader of Realism, a movement that pushed back against the polished, idealized nudes that were popular in his day. Instead of a mythical goddess or a flattering fantasy, he painted a real human body with unflinching directness, right down to the dark curls of hair and the warmth of the skin. The bold title, The Origin of the World, points to birth and the beginning of human life, which gives the frank image a larger meaning. It shocked people then and still surprises visitors now, but it fits squarely with Courbet's lifelong belief that art should show the world as it actually is.