The Source（Bather At the Source） was made in 1868, which measured 128 x 97 cm. Now it is preserved in Orsay Museum located in Paris, France.
The Source（Bather At The Source）
This painting was a rebellion against The Source by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and also the rebellion for female body and nude concept. On the other hand, it was repeatedly draw by Courbet who liked drawing the bathers sleeping along the river, getting out of water or taking a shower. Their bodies were always full of the breath of youth, which was shapely and strong as rural women. Courbet’s aesthetic view was very different from that of romanticism, forming a sharp contrast. But this was unacceptable for Courbet's contemporaries. One critic terrified by the realistic nude of Courbet wrote: the hip of Venus in Ornan's heart was very ugly.
In 1861 Gustave Courbet refuted the romantic beauty form which was commonly complied with. He wrote: The art of painting only depended on the performance of those touched objects; artist's imagination lied in knowing to find the most complete performance for an existing object, but never the imagined or created object itself. Courbet did not try to let his model make poses and make beautiful movements. But behind her, he tried to show that he abandoned the romantic painting habits. She leaned on the diagonal lines of the painting, with right hand holding the branches, left hand into the waterfall, left leg placing in the body line and right leg holding back. He specially stressed the sun through the branches and gently stroked the impression effect of her plump buttocks. The naked color was completely identical with that of women, which highlighted the transparency in maroon and green background. This was the combination of Courbet's painting skills and chromatic characteristics, which was a typical example of vigor emitting from human bodies.
