Was Courbet queer?

The work was clearly meant for the male gaze though today it can be read as queer and enjoyed by queer women. One can substantially conclude that the intention behind the work is not homoerotic in nature. Whatever is known of Courbet by historians does not indicate that he was gay or bisexual,though he did paint a series on women which made him both infamous and famous in the 1860s.

This work was predictably banned from public display,increasing the curiosity of viewers ten-fold,and adding to the painter’s notoriety. Known as the most arrogant man in France,Courbet was a rebel artist and sought out experiences that were unusual and off the beaten track. In a letter to his wife and writer friend,Francis Wey,he said,“I am eager to learn and,to that end,I will be so outrageous that I’ll give everyone the power to tell me the cruelest truths.”

Are we to believe this was one of the cruel truths that Courbet was confronted with or that this was part of his exploration of “savage life”? Part of his mission in life was to upset the prissy-natured painters who were part of the Paris Salon and he did manage that with this painting and others like Les Demoiselles des bords de la Seine (été) (1856-1857),a painting considered more subversive that Le Sommeil.

If we were to consider the work,irrespective of the painter who rendered it or the patron who commissioned it,we can conclude that it is a sensitive and intense rendering of the subject that elevates it from petty pornography.

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