A family affair at the Courbet Museum

Ornans (Doubs). Receiving around 77,000 visitors per year, the Courbet Museum has until now presented a major exhibition each semester. However, in winter, despite their high quality, they attract 15,000 people in the best case. The director of the museum, Benjamin Foudral, therefore questioned the relevance of organizing events which mobilize a large budget and sacrifice a subject which will only really live through the catalogue.

It turns out that the institution frequently works with the Petit Palais-Musée des beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris, which has a large collection of works by Gustave Courbet donated by his sister, Juliette, also founder of the Ornans Museum. Two important joint projects mobilize them for 2027: the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the painter’s death and an exhibition at the Courbet Museum, “Juliette Courbet. In the shadow of Gustave.” From this partnership was born the idea of ​​borrowing ten works from the Petit Palais and presenting them with a few others kept at the Courbet Museum on the theme of intimate portraits.

A course also dedicated to children

This exhibition turns out to be a family affair in several ways. Firstly by its subject which focuses on portraits of loved ones produced by often little-known painters (Théobald Chartran, Raymond Lévi-Strauss for example). Then because it is aimed at a local audience who live within the influence of the Pôle Courbet and particularly at children who have the opportunity to come to the rooms with their class. Finally, because of the participation in the project of the entire museum team who lived the experience with a lot of investment.

The aim is as much to allow the public to discover new artists as to question the art of portraiture: how do we pose the models, what do we express about their personality and the intimacy we have with them? Less than fifteen works are used. Portrait of Juliette Courbet (1844) (see ill.) sits alone in the darkness of a room. You can isolate yourself with her using noise-canceling headphones, listen to a dialogue in which, transported to our contemporary world, the young girl telephones a friend, or choose to hear the painter’s letters relating to this work. In the three spaces of the exhibition, mediation allows adults and children alike to approach the portraits in a fun way to understand their construction and the artistic choices of their creators. If it is conclusive, the experience should be repeated every winter during other partnerships.