The Man Mad with Fear

  • Artist: Gustave Courbet
  • Creation date: Ca. 1844
  • Object type: Painting

Not on display

About

In this innovative self-portrait, Gustave Courbet has dramatically envisioned himself at the edge of a cliff in a mountain landscape, apparently on the verge of falling down into an abyss. His countenance is one of despair, and his troubled state of mind is emphasized by his left hand touching his head in an anguished gesture. His right hand reaches out toward us, out into the void, as though he wants to brace himself but is unable to find anything to grab hold of. Are we witnessing a scene fraught with peril? Or is it all just a nightmare?

The painting can be interpreted biographically, as a self-representation painted during a difficult time for the artist. Courbet’s youth was plagued with doubt and a lack of self-confidence, even as he described himself as extremely ambitious in several letters to family and friends. We know that throughout his entire life, but especially early on in his career, he was ambivalent to his outer selfsatisfaction and inner uncertainty. With this in mind, the painting can be seen as allegorizing Courbet’s mental state at the time.

This personal aspect should not, however, overshadow the general references that the painting also opens up for. French and German romanticism in particular tended to link artistic genius with madness. The painting can thus also be understood as visualizing the idea of the artist as a lonely genius, towering above the common crowd, and as someone who is elevated to the rank of something incomprehensibly sublime – a state that arouses fear, ambivalence, and desperation, but that also provides more profound insight.

Text: Vibeke Waallann Hansen

From "Highlights. Art from Antiquity to 1945", Nasjonalmuseet 2014, ISBN 978-82-8154-088-0

Artist/producer

Gustave Courbet

Visual artist

Born 1819 in Ornans, death 1877 in la-Tour-de-Peilz

Work info

Creation date:
Ca. 1844
Other titles:
Le Fou de peur (FRE)
På kanten av stupet (NOR)
Der vor Angst Wahnsinnige (GER)
Der Verzweifelte (GER)
Object type:
Materials and techniques:
Olje på lerret oppklebet på trefiberplate
Material:
Dimensions:
  • Width: 50 cm
  • Height: 60.5 cm
Keywords:
Classification:
Motif - type:
Inventory no.:
NG.M.02169
Cataloguing level:
Single object
Litteratur:
  • Messel, Nils. Franske forbindelser: Kunst, kapital og konjunkturer i Norge rundt 1. verdenskrig. Oslo: Messel Forlag, 2016. 228–33, 293, note 529
  • Nasjonalmuseet : høydepunkter : kunst fra antikken til 1945,. Oslo: Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, 2014. 88–9
  • Herding, Klaus, et al. Courbet: a dream of modern art. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2010. 44–5, 112; kat.nr. 8
  • Font-Réaulx, Dominique de, et al. Gustave Courbet. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008. 74, 104–5; kat.nr. 7
  • Chu, Petra ten-Doesschate. The most arrogant man in France: Gustave Courbet and the nineteenth-century media culture. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2007. 32; fig. 16
  • Bajou, Valérie. Courbet. Paris: Adam Biro, 2003. 42–4
  • Sheon, Aaron. «Courbet, French Realisme and the Discovery of the Unconscious». Arts Magazine 55, nr. 6 (1981): 114–28. 120; fig. 8
  • Hamburger Kunsthalle, et al. Courbet und Deutschland. Köln: DuMont, 1978. 192–3; kat.nr. 214
  • Fernier, Robert. La vie et l’œuvre de Gustave Courbet : catalogue raisonné : 1 : 1819-1865 : peintures. Geneve: D. Wildenstein, 1977. 20; kat.nr. 37
  • Foucart, Bruno. G. Courbet. New York: Crown Publishers, 1977. 17
  • Østby,  Leif, red. Katalog over utenlandsk malerkunst : med 153 illustrasjoner. Oslo: Nasjonalgalleriet, 1973. 203–5; kat.nr. 484
  • Forges, Marie-Therese de Lemoyne de. Autoportraits de Courbet. Paris: Editions des Musees Nationaux, 1973. 28–30; kat.nr. 35
  • Léger, Charles. Courbet. Paris: Crès, 1929. 217, III
  • Estignard, Alexandre. Courbet: sa vie, ses oeuvres. Besançon: Delagrange et Magnus, 1896. 153, 183?
Acquisition:
Bequeathed by Peter Hersleb Matthiessen and Ingeborg Topsøe Matthiesen, accessioned 1947
Provenance:
[20] Donor/last owner, Peter Hersleb Matthiessen
[40] Previous owner, Juliette Courbet
[40] Previous owner, Juliette Courbet, hennes arvinger
Owner and collection:
Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, The Fine Art Collections
Photo:
Børre Høstland/Jarre, Anne Hansteen
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