The Wounded Man (painting)

The Wounded Man
ArtistGustave Courbet
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions81.5 cm × 97.5 cm (32.1 in × 38.4 in)
LocationMusée d'Orsay, Paris

The Wounded Man (French: L'Homme blessé) is an oil-on-canvas self-portrait created between 1844 and 1854 by the French Realist painter Gustave Courbet. In it, Courbet depicts himself in a romantic theme as a suffering, heroic man. Originally, the composition featured a woman leaning on the artist's shoulder. Sometime before May 1854, Courbet replaced her with a sword, and added a red bloodstain on his shirt.[1] Courbet's decision to depict himself as a wounded man may have arisen from his distress at the dissolution, circa 1851, of his 14-year relationship with Virginie Binet, with whom he had a son.[2]

  1. ^ "The Wounded Man, 1844". www.gustave-courbet.com. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  2. ^ Faunce, Sarah; Nochlin, Linda (1988). Courbet Reconsidered. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum. p. 101. ISBN 0-300-04298-1