Gustave Courbet's Happy and Unhappy Friendships: Champfleury, Baudelaire, Cuénot, Buchon
- Art d'Histoire
- May 28
- 4 min read
Courbet, possessing an impetuous character and a man of conviction, sometimes mistreated those close to him; while he remained faithful to his friends from the Doubs, he gradually drifted away from his first Parisian companions.
Early Supporters
The young artist's first years in Paris—his passport dates from November 1838 and authorises a change of residence—mark his entry into the Parisian bohème. He maintained very strong ties with his beloved Franche-Comté, with his family who supported him, but also with his friend Urbain Cuénot, a republican man of independent means originally from Ornans like himself. This traveling companion, of whom the artist painted a portrait in 1847, would help him financially when necessary, share his love for long brasserie discussions, accompany him on hunts in the Doubs countryside, and even go to Normandy when Courbet set up his easel there.
At the same time, the artist's Parisian life led him to meet Charles Baudelaire. The painter hosted the poet in his studio for a time, arranging a makeshift bed for him.
Despite fundamental differences—the artist perceiving poetry as a precious imposture disconnected from reality, and Baudelaire, in return, considering real that which is the fruit of the imagination—a mutual aid was established. The man of letters wrote the introductory notices for the realist canvases for the official Salon of 1849. At the poet's request, Courbet annotated his friend's ramblings when the latter was under the influence of hashish. Baudelaire even left behind rare sketches of his painter friend.
However, when Courbet integrated the figure of the poet into his canvas The Painter's Studio, he chose to reproduce his friend's features as they were in 1848 and resorted to a pentimento—a modification of the composition during execution—in order to erase the poet's companion.
This alteration, demanded by the writer out of fear of judgment from the worldly bourgeoisie, coupled with the fact that Courbet used an old image he had of the poet rather than a recent one—Baudelaire having since changed his hairstyle—are proof that the two men were no longer associating.
Art as an Instrument of Social Struggle (1848-1851)
Courbet, with convictions ever more strongly asserted against the Empire and in favour of the republic, was certainly in harmony with, if not under the direct influence of, Max Buchon, a childhood friend of the artist and a fervent Fourierist militant.
Buchon, very active at the end of the Second Republic, used the regional press to support his companion's style; he asserted that the rejection of academic idealisation in painting was the direct equivalent of the democratic struggles in their native province. The artist fully adhered to this vision, confirming that this political framework corresponded to the nature of his talent.
This fusion between aesthetic avant-garde and activism gravely exposed the circle of friends following the 1851 coup d'état. While Urbain Cuénot was imprisoned for having supported the opposition to Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, Max Buchon, identified as a leader of revolts, was forced to flee. He found refuge with the Courbet family before going into exile outside of France. These persecutions shocked the painter who, when the occasion arose, would participate in the war against the Versailles troops as a Communard.
Two Lost Friendships, Baudelaire and Champfleury
The will to sometimes subject his painting to an ideological program provoked the contempt of two of his former friends or close collaborators, Champfleury and Baudelaire.
Champfleury, a historic supporter from the very beginning and theorist of Realism, threw in the towel when Courbet presented The Return from the Conference. Conceived as an anti-clerical farce, the work dismayed the critic—not because the subject was blasphemous, which would shock the general public, but Champfleury's anger belonged to a completely different register.
Champfleury castigated Courbet's botched execution. He denounced gross anatomical errors and a lack of finesse, arguing that the use of such a polemical subject required, paradoxically, irreproachable virtuosity. Locked in a complacency fuelled by a flattering entourage, the artist accused his former ally of political betrayal; their friendship would never recover.
When Charles Baudelaire eventually theorised his rejection of realism, accusing the artist of having sacrificed the power of the imagination for the sake of a stupid and immediate restitution of nature, Courbet retaliated.
He painted a canvas titled The Source, intended to mock the figures of contemporary literature by replacing the muse of poetry with a young woman spitting into the spring supposed to inspire poets. This canvas, which was to finalise their rupture, had the misfortune of being destroyed in a studio accident.
Initially propelled by provincial solidarity and the Parisian bohème, Courbet would end up isolated and all the more abandoned as men like Édouard Manet would reproach him for his support of the Communards. Isolated in his Swiss exile, only a few of his former friends would still visit him; the man was now ill, his liver overwhelmed by alcohol.
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