An in depth examination of Burial at Ornans

Gustave Courbet, Burial at Ornans, 1850 (salon of 1850-51), Oil on Canvas.

The political climate of France in 1850 was very stormy, due in part to the instability of the French regime and the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1848. The yearly salon, of which Courbet gained automatic submittal due to receiving a second-place medal for his After Dinner at Ornans. This allowed Courbet to have extra time for the exhibit. And he produced this monumental painting called the Burial at Ornans which lined the gallery walls from floor to ceiling. It is deemed a historical painting due to it's sheer size. He portrays a funeral in his home town of Ornan in the region of Franche-Compté. Courbet depicts a crowd of visitors gathered around a grave. The cemetary is a new cemetary, built to accommodate Napoleon's decree to move bodies outside the church yard. A priest is leading a procession around a grave, the composition is anything but static. However, none of the participants are paying attention to the priest albeit being too busy circumambulating the grave. The composition seems additive of which Courbet added figures one by one. Courbet handles the paint with course brush strokes, and he brings the composition close to the picture plane, which invites the viewer to become part of the family and even enter the grave itself. Look how realistically the dog watches the movement of the procession. Courbet mocks the ritual of the church by protraying the cardinals dressed in red, with flushed faces and red noses, as if they are drunk; they are certainly not paying attention to the events. The family is dressed in bourgeoise uniforms with coats down to their knees, sporting all black attire. This painting is done in the memory of Courbet's father of which Courbet couldn't attend his funeral. For Champfleury (1820-1889) , an art critic, he saw this picture as showing the parisian stereotypes of the bourgeoise, however, knowledge of Courbet will uncover that he was anti-bourgeoise, and favored the middle class hard worker, although dressed in bourgeoise garb.

The composition contains approximately 50 figures and all remarkably life-sized. To the far left is Courbet's grandfather Oudot, a personal homage a man he loved. Which disproves this painting as a candid snapshot of reality. The corpulent mayor, Claude-Helen-Prosper Teste, is prominent in the forground just above the grave surrounded by a prestigious local lawyer and friends of Oudot. The Abbe Benjamin Bonnet presides over this funeral, accompanied by an aide who carries the cross. Courbet includes the viewer into the painting by the movement of the procession which will eventually sweep into the viewers space. The hole is too small to contain the entire coffin and therefore juts out into the viewer which physically imposes the idea of mortality upon him.

The priest looks like a man accustomed to his role as a meaning-giver. The gravedigger is the only figure ambivalent to the Abbe's sense of power. This diverse group is linked only by time, as the figures posed separately for their portraits.

In the burial we come face to face with the blunt reality of death without a sense of purpose.

--Peesh