In Courbet's Footsteps

To contemplate Gustave Courbet’s paintings is to enjoy revisiting a part of our region, Franche-Comté. The opposite is also true: all that is necessary to do is to start off on the paths Courbet walked to rediscover his works of fragile beauty.

To paint a region, you have to know it well. I know my region, I paint it. These woods are my home; this river is the Loue, that one is the Lison; these rocks are those of Ornans and the Puits Noir. Go and have a look, you will recognise all of my paintings. Thus spoke Gustave Courbet, and he was speaking from the heart. You just have to peek at the source of the Loue, in Ouhans, to feel yourself be drawn into La grotte de la Loue painted in 1864 and hanging today in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The only thing missing today from the scene depicted is the man standing on the dam.

More than 150 years have gone by and this landscape, part of our national heritage, has been well groomed. The pathway to the grotto has been enhanced: it is once again accessible to all visitors. The arduous passages on the path on the right bank have been improved by footbridges, staircases and handrails. The six other stages of the Gustave Courbet circuit have benefited from similar attention. This route covers about thirty kilometres that you can do on foot, by bike or by car. After La grotte de la Loue, in Montgesoye you will see La truite; in Ornans the Chateau or Le Miroir; in Scey-Maisières the famous Falaise rocheuse Le Grand. A little further away in the Brême valley, you will find Le ruisseau du Puits Noir and in Cleron La scène de halage.

At each site, comments accompany a print of the artist’s work to enlighten you about his approach. For example at the castle of Ornans, the contrast between the countryside and the painting show the liberty the artist took with the surrounding nature. In creating the circuit, the Upper-Valley has been improved: the cliff faces have been cleared off, the entrance to villages landscaped, fruit trees planted and look-out points at Hautepierre, Renédale and Moine-la-Vallée made visitor-friendly.

Once you are in the Upper Valley, if you wish to head out to meet up with Courbet the man, do go to Ornans: but it is impossible to visit the museum in the house of his birth as it is under renovation. However, in the artist’s last workshop a presentation of the architectural project of the future museum is on show. Learn about the history of the workshop as well -one more trace left behind by the artist. And one last suggestion: go through the cemetery in Ornans and you will come to his final resting place… the artist’s ashes were brought there in 1919.

For further information about the Courbet museum and about Gustave Courbet : click here <http://www.musee-courbet.com/>