Passed from hand to hand through private collections since its creation, the famous painting “Le Désespéré”, one of Gustave Courbet’s first masterpieces, has just been hung at the Musée d’Orsay. A return to the institution, 17 years after the major retrospective dedicated to the artist in 2007-2008.
A Courbet masterpiece returns to Orsay
After a long period outside France, Gustave Courbet’s self-portrait “Le Désespéré” returns to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. This canvas, marked by the intensity of the artist’s gaze, is one of the masterpieces of nineteenth-century French painting. In this composition, Courbet depicts himself with his hands in his hair, his gaze direct and intense, as if staring at the viewer. It’s a bold and intimate self-portrait, at a time when he was building his identity as an artist. Visitors will be able to discover it once again in a venue entirely dedicated to the art of this period. Already in possession of some thirty works by the controversial artist, the museum has added a new reference to its collection.
Privately owned, the painting has never belonged to French public collections, and is said to have passed through the BNP Paribas art investment fund, before recently being purchased by the Qatar Museums Authority for exhibition at the Art Mill Museum in Doha. Negotiated and signed last April, the loan to the Musée d’Orsay became effective on Tuesday October 14th. You can now admire this mesmerizing work for five years!