L'Origine du monde

2025-09-14T19:59:41Z

68.8.254.92:

{{Short description|Oil-on-canvas painted by Gustave Courbet}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image_file=Origin-of-the-World.jpg
| image_size = 300px
| title={{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}
| artist=[[Gustave Courbet]]
| year=1866
| medium=Oil on canvas
| height_metric=46
| width_metric=55
| metric_unit=cm
| museum=Musée d'Orsay, Paris
}}

'''{{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}''' ({{IPA|fr|lɔʁiʒin dy mɔ̃d}}, "The Origin of the World") is a picture painted in oil on canvas by the French painter [[Gustave Courbet]] in 1866. It is a close-up view of the [[vulva]] and [[abdomen]] of a naked woman, lying on a bed with legs spread.

==History==
===Identity of the model===
[[File:The Origin of the World (upper section).jpg|thumb|Putative upper section of {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}]]
Art historians have speculated for years that Courbet's model for {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} was his favourite model, [[Joanna Hiffernan]], also known as Jo. Her lover at the time was the American painter [[James Abbott McNeill Whistler|James Whistler]], a friend of Courbet.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/sep/25/joanna-hiffernan-courbet-nude-lorigine-du-monde |title=Who posed for the 'Mona Lisa of vaginas'? |last=Jones |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Jones (journalist) |date=25 September 2018 |website=The Guardian |access-date=2018-10-05}}</ref>
[[File:Gustave Courbet - Jo, la belle Irlandaise (MET-Museum).jpg|thumb|''Jo, la belle Irlandaise'' (''Jo, the beautiful Irishwoman'') by Courbet: Joanna Hiffernan, possible model for {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}]]

Hiffernan was the subject of a series of four portraits by Courbet titled [[Jo, the Beautiful Irishwoman|''Jo, la belle Irlandaise'' (''Jo, the beautiful Irishwoman'')]] painted in 1865–66. The possibility that she was the model for {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}<ref name=tele /><ref>{{Cite book|first1=Benoit|last1=Noël|first2=Jean|last2=Hournon|title=Parisiana – La capitale des peintres au XIX<sup>ème</sup> siècle|publisher=Les Presses Franciliennes|chapter=Gustave Courbet – L'Origine du Monde, 1866|year=2006|page=37|isbn=9782952721400|language=fr}}</ref> or that she was having an affair with Courbet might explain Courbet's and Whistler's brutal separation a short while later.<ref name=Kosinski>Dorothy M. Kosinski (1988). [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1483342 "Gustave Courbet's ''The Sleepers'' The Lesbian Image in Nineteenth Century French Art and Literature"]. ''Artibus et Historiae'', Vol. 9, No. 18, p.187</ref> In spite of Hiffernan's [[red hair]] contrasting with the darker pubic hair of {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}, the hypothesis continues that Hiffernan was the model. Redhead Jacky Colliss Harvey puts forward the idea that the woman's body hair suggests a more obvious candidate might be the brunette painted with Hiffernan in Courbet's ''[[Le Sommeil]]''; and that the identification with Hiffernan has been greatly influenced by the eroticised and sexualised image of the female redhead.<ref>{{Cite book|title = RED: A History of the Redhead|last = Colliss Harvey|first = Jacky|publisher = Black Dog & Leventhal|year = 2015|isbn = 978-1-57912-996-5|location = New York|pages = 119–120}}</ref>

[[File:Melle Queniaux opéra (ballet) par Nadar (1820-1910).jpg|thumb|left|Constance Quéniaux, possible model for {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}]]

In February 2013, ''[[Paris Match]]'' reported that Courbet expert Jean-Jacques Fernier had authenticated a painting of a young woman's head and shoulders as the upper section of {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} which according to some was severed from the original work. Fernier has stated that because of the conclusions reached after two years of analysis, the head will be added to the next edition of the Courbet [[catalogue raisonné]].<ref name=tele>Henry Samuel (7 February 2013). [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9854914/Amateur-art-buff-finds-35-million-head-of-Courbet-masterpiece.html "Amateur art buff finds £35 million head of Courbet masterpiece"]. ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''.</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=[[Paris Match]]|title=''L'Origine du monde'': Le secret de la femme cachée|url=http://www.parismatch.com/Culture-Match/Art/Actu/L-Origine-du-monde-de-Gustave-Courbet-Le-secret-de-la-femme-cachee-463132/|date=7 February 2013|language=fr|access-date=2013-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130415141855/http://www.parismatch.com/Culture-Match/Art/Actu/L-Origine-du-monde-de-Gustave-Courbet-Le-secret-de-la-femme-cachee-463132/|archive-date=2013-04-15|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Musée d'Orsay]] has indicated that {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} was not part of a larger work.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/9860793/Has-the-head-of-The-Origin-of-the-World-been-found.html|title=Has the head of The Origin of the World been found? |work= The Telegraph|date=10 February 2013|access-date=11 February 2013}}</ref> ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' reported that "experts at the [French] art research centre CARAA (Centre d'Analyses et de Recherche en Art et Archéologie) were able to align the two paintings via grooves made by the original wooden frame and lines in the canvas itself, whose grain matched."<ref name=tele /> According to CARAA, it performed pigment analyses which were identified as classical pigments of the 2nd half of the 19th century. No other conclusions were reported by the CARAA.<ref>[http://www.caraa.fr/EN/detail-actu.php?actu=18 "Summary of analytical report – Painting on canvas, portrait of a woman"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217201825/http://www.caraa.fr/EN/detail-actu.php?actu=18 |date=2015-02-17 }}, Centre d'Analyses et de Recherche en Art et Archéologie, 7 February 2013</ref> The claim reported by ''Paris Match'' was characterized as dubious by ''[[Le Monde]]'' art critic [[Philippe Dagen]], indicating differences in style, and that canvas similarities could be caused by buying from the same shop.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2013/0209/1224329840770.html|title=Art collector claims to have found top part of Courbet's ''Origin of the World''|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|access-date=11 February 2013|date=9 February 2013|author=Ruadhán Mac Cormaic|archive-date=9 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130209100327/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2013/0209/1224329840770.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Documentary evidence, however, links the painting with [[Constance Quéniaux]], a former dancer at the [[Paris Opera]] and a mistress of the Ottoman diplomat [[Halil Şerif Pasha]] (Khalil Bey) who commissioned the painting.<ref name="DB">{{cite news |last1=Dickey |first1=Christopher |title=The Muslim Playboy Behind Paris' Most Scandalous Painting |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-muslim-playboy-behind-paris-most-scandalous-painting |access-date=9 January 2019 |publisher=The Daily Beast |date=31 December 2018}}</ref> According to the historian Claude Schopp and the head of the [[French National Library]]'s prints department, Sylvie Aubenas, the evidence is found in correspondence between [[Alexandre Dumas fils]] and [[George Sand]].<ref name=guardian>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/sep/25/origin-of-gustave-courbet-scandalous-painting-revealed |title=Mystery solved? Identity of Courbet's 19th-century nude revealed |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] |location=Paris |date=2018-09-25 |website=the Guardian |language=en |access-date=2018-09-26}}</ref> Another potential model was [[Marie-Anne Detourbay]], who also was a mistress of Halil Şerif Pasha.<ref name=guardian />

===Owners===
Halil Şerif Pasha (Khalil Bey), an Ottoman diplomat, is believed to have commissioned the work shortly after he moved to Paris. [[Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve]] introduced him to Courbet and he ordered a painting to add to his personal collection of erotic pictures, which already included {{Lang|fr|[[The Turkish Bath|Le Bain turc]]}} (''The Turkish Bath'') from [[Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres|Ingres]] and another painting by Courbet, ''[[Le Sommeil]]'' (''The Sleepers''), for which it is supposed that Hiffernan was one of the models.<ref name="DB"/>

[[File:Halil Sherif Pasha.jpg|thumbnail|left|[[Halil Şerif Pasha]] (Khalil Bey) commissioned the painting.]]

After Khalil Bey's finances were ruined by gambling, the painting subsequently passed through a series of private collections. It was first bought during the sale of the Khalil Bey collection in 1868, by antique dealer Antoine de la Narde. [[Edmond de Goncourt]] hit upon it in an antique shop in 1889, hidden behind a wooden pane decorated with the painting of a castle or a church in a snowy landscape. According to [[Robert Fernier]], who published two volumes of the Courbet catalogue raisonné and founded the [[Musée Courbet]], Hungarian collector Baron [[Ferenc Hatvany]] bought it at the [[Bernheim-Jeune]] gallery in 1910 and took it with him to Budapest. Towards the end of the [[Second World War]] the painting was looted by [[Red Army|Soviet troops]], but later ransomed by Hatvany. Hatvany left Hungary, which was on the brink of a Communist takeover, in 1947. He was allowed to take only one art work with him, and he took {{Lang|fr|L'Origine}} to Paris.<ref>Konstantin Akinsha (1 February 2008). [http://www.artnews.com/2008/02/01/the-mysterious-journey-of-an-erotic-masterpiece/ "The Mysterious Journey of an Erotic Masterpiece"]. ''[[ARTnews]]''.</ref>

In 1955 {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} was sold at auction for 1.5 million francs, about US$4,285 at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.measuringworth.com/datasets/exchangeglobal/result.php?year_source=1955&year_result=1955&countryE%5B%5D=France|title=Measuring Worth – Relative Worth Comparators and Data Sets|website=www.measuringworth.com}}</ref> Its new owner was the psychoanalyst [[Jacques Lacan]]. He and his wife, actress [[Sylvia Bataille]], installed it in their country house in [[Guitrancourt]]. Lacan asked [[André Masson]], his stepbrother, to build a double bottom frame and draw another picture thereon. Masson painted a surrealist, allusive version of {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}.<ref>''Lacan and the Matter of Origins'' by Shuli Barzilai, p. 8</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lacan.com/courbet.htm|title=courbet – origin of the world|website=www.lacan.com}}</ref>

The New York public had the opportunity to view {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} in 1988 during the ''Courbet Reconsidered'' show at the [[Brooklyn Museum]]; the painting was also included in the exhibition ''Gustave Courbet'' at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in 2008. After Lacan died in 1981, the French Minister of Economy and Finances agreed to settle the family's [[inheritance tax]] bill through the transfer of the work ({{Lang|fr|[[Acceptance in lieu|"Dation en paiement"]]}} in French law) to the [[Musée d'Orsay]]; the transfer was finalized in 1995.<ref name="DB"/>

===Provocative work===
During the 19th century, the display of the nude body underwent a revolution whose main activists were Courbet and [[Édouard Manet|Manet]]. Courbet rejected academic painting and its smooth, idealised nudes, but he also directly recriminated the hypocritical social conventions of the [[Second French Empire|Second Empire]], where [[eroticism]] and even [[pornography]] were acceptable in [[mythology|mythological]] or [[Oneirology|oneiric]] paintings.

Courbet later insisted he never lied in his paintings, and his [[realism (arts)|realism]] pushed the limits of what was considered presentable. With {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}, he has made even more explicit the eroticism of Manet's ''[[Olympia (Manet)|Olympia]]''. [[Maxime Du Camp]], in a harsh tirade, reported his visit to the work's purchaser, and his sight of a painting "giving realism's last word".{{sfn|Du Camp|1878|p=190}}

[[File:Courbet-origine-monde.jpg|thumb|{{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} in the Musée d'Orsay]]

By the very nature of its realistic, graphic nudity, the painting still has the power to shock and trigger censorship.

Although moral standards and resulting taboos regarding the artistic display of nudity have changed since Courbet, owing especially to [[photography]] and [[film|cinema]], the painting remained provocative. Its arrival at the Musée d'Orsay caused high excitement. According to postcard sales, in 2007 {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} was the second most popular painting in the Musée d'Orsay, after [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir|Renoir's]] ''[[Bal du moulin de la Galette]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/reviews/arts_and_commentary/article759415.ece|title=The history of ''The Origin of the World''| location=London|work=The Times Literary Supplement|first=Mark|last=Hutchinson|date=8 August 2007|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Some critics maintain that the body depicted is not (as has been argued) a lively erotic portrayal of a female but of a corpse: "''L'Origine'' does not represent a full female body but rather a slice of one, cut off by the frame [...]. The pallidness of the skin and the mortuary gauze surrounding the body suggest death."{{sfn|Uparella|Jauregui|2018|p=95}}

==Influence==
The explicitness of the picture may have served as an inspiration, albeit with a satirical twist, for [[Marcel Duchamp]]'s last major work, ''[[Étant donnés]]'' (1946–1966), a construction also featuring the image of a woman lying on her back with her legs spread.<ref>[http://toutfait.com/femalic-molds/ "Femalic Molds"], The Marcel Duchamp Studies Online Journal (toutfait.com), 1 April 2003/5 May 2016</ref>

In 1989, French artist [[Orlan]] created the [[cibachrome]] ''L'origine de la guerre'' (''The Origin of War''), a version of ''L'origine du monde'' showing a [[penile erection]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.loeildelaphotographie.com/2013/11/27/exhibition/23329/orlan-l-origine-de-la-guerre-orsay-masculin-masculin |title=ORLAN: L'origine de la Guerre |website=The Eye of Photography |date=21 December 2014 |access-date=2018-10-22 }}</ref>

Brazilian artist [[Vik Muniz]] created two versions of the famous painting. "The first [1999] is a photograph made of dust or dirt, which plays with the common moralist association between female genitalia and filth. In the second piece [2013], Muniz remakes ''L'Origine'' from an assemblage of journal clippings that are reminiscent of the anatomic and artistic procedure of cutting that produced [...] the female body."{{sfn|Uparella|Jauregui|2018|pp=103-105}}

''Two Origins of the World'' (2000) by Mexican artist [[Enrique Chagoya]] "recycles {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} as a spectral backdrop behind three solid black, blue and white squares of canvas in three of the corners of the painting. In the foreground of the bottom right corner, an indigenous man sits at a fourth canvas, this one on an easel, apparently 'interpreting' the Courbet painting."{{sfn|Uparella|Jauregui|2018|p=105}}

In 2002, American artist [[Jack Daws]] created an homage to the painting. Entitled ''Origins of the World'', it is a collection of various photographs of vulvas, taken from pornographic magazines, and framed in montage.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gregkucera.com/daws_sculpture.htm |title=Jack Daws Sculpture |website=Greg Kucera Gallery, Inc. |access-date=2018-10-22 |archive-date=23 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023211513/http://www.gregkucera.com/daws_sculpture.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The British artist [[Anish Kapoor]] created an installation in 2004 called {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}, which references Courbet's painting. The piece is in the [[21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa]] in Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kanazawa21.jp/data_list.php?g=97&d=78&lng=e|title=金沢21世紀美術館|website=金沢21世紀美術館}}</ref>

The image is also referenced as inspiring [[Catherine Breillat]]'s filming of the female genitalia in her 2004 film {{Lang|fr|Anatomie de l'enfer}} (''[[Anatomy of Hell]]'').<ref>[http://www.arkepix.com/kinok/Catherine%20BREILLAT/breillat_interview.html "Catherine Breillat, cinéaste"] {{Webarchive|url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091004064647/http://www.arkepix.com/kinok/Catherine%20BREILLAT/breillat_interview.html |date=2009-10-04 }}, interview by Laurent Devanne, [[Radio libertaire]] (1 February 2004)</ref>

The Serbian [[performance art]]ist [[Tanja Ostojić]] parodied the work in a poster in 2005, informally called the "EU panties" poster. Like Courbet's painting, the poster proved controversial, and was ultimately removed from the art exhibition in which it was originally displayed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dickinson |first1=Bob |title=A Bridge Too Far |journal=Art Monthly |date=April 2016 |issue=395 |page=3 |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=114526824&site=eds-live&scope=site |access-date=1 June 2024 |issn=0142-6702}}</ref>

The French artist [[Bettina Rheims]] closes ''The Book of Olga'' (2008) with a photo of protagonist [[Olga Rodionova]] depicting {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} almost completely. The few differences represent the evolution of tastes from the 19th to the 21st centuries: perfectly depilated genitalia with clitoral piercing jewelry and an intimate tattoo of Olga Rodionova, in comparison to the natural hairy look of Constance Quéniaux.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/01092/facts.bettina_rheims_the_book_of_olga.htm|title=Bettina Rheims. The Book of Olga|publisher=Taschen|edition=Limited}}</ref> The controversial book gained wide fame and became the subject of a legal fight in Russia.

On 23 February 2009 in [[Braga]], Portugal, [[Polícia de Segurança Pública|the police]] confiscated the book ''Pornocratie'' by Catherine Breillat, displayed in bookshops using {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} as its cover.<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://ultimahora.publico.clix.pt/noticia.aspx?id=1366440&idCanal=62
|title = PSP apreende livros por considerar pornográfica capa com quadro de Courbet
|access-date = 24 February 2009
|author = Lusa
|author-link = Lusa news agency
|date = 23 February 2009
|language = pt
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090525083907/http://ultimahora.publico.clix.pt/noticia.aspx?id%3D1366440%26idCanal%3D62
|archive-date = 25 May 2009
}}</ref> A great deal of controversy was sparked by the police action. The reason given was the need to maintain public order. Also, the book title incorrectly hinted at pornographic content; Portuguese law forbids public displays of pornography.{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}}

In 2010, British composer [[Tony Hymas]] composed {{Lang|fr|De l'origine du monde}} a [[Suite (music)|musical suite]] dedicated to the picture as well as relations between Courbet and the [[Paris Commune]], based on texts by Courbet himself, [[Charles Baudelaire]] and [[Pierre Dupont]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}}

The German-born Turkish artist [[Taner Ceylan]] painted a work named ''1879 (From the Lost Paintings Series)'' (2011) in which a veiled Ottoman noblewoman stands before the framed canvas of {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Harris|first1=Garreth|title=Up front and personal: Turkish artist Taner Ceylan|url=https://www.ft.com/content/3d14ba7c-2d23-11e4-8105-00144feabdc0|access-date=4 October 2017|work=Financial Times|date=12 September 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Taner Ceylan 1879 (FROM THE LOST PAINTING SERIES)|url=http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2011/contemporary-art-turkish-l11221/lot.14.html|publisher=Sothebys|access-date=4 October 2017}}</ref>

On 29 May 2014, a Luxembourg performance artist, [[Deborah De Robertis]], sat on the floor in front of the painting and mimicked the view of the subject. This resulted in security guards closing the room and her arrest.{{sfn|Uparella|Jauregui|2018|pp=82-83}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/artist-arrested-again-for-nude-stunt-in-front-of-manets-olympia-in-paris-gallery-a6819886.html|title=An artist has been arrested (again) for a nude stunt in a Paris gallery|website=[[Independent.co.uk]]|date=18 January 2016}}</ref>

US artist [[Candice Lin]] recreated {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} with an audiovisual sculpture, ''Hunter Moon / Inside Out'' (2015). In it, ''Courbet's {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} with eyes'' "looks back at the onlookers." From a feminist point of view, Lin's work challenges "the asymmetry of power [...] between those who look and those who are seen."{{sfn|Uparella|Jauregui|2018|p=85}}

In a 2023 interview with the curator Hamza Walker, painter [[Dana Schutz]] noted that when viewing the painting at the [[Musée d'Orsay]] "it is still intense. It became a social problem in the room. People are looking at it. People are looking at people looking at it. Someone's there with their kid. They're taking a picture with it. It just becomes this real problem, making you a part of the subject, which was uncomfortable, but interesting."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dana Schutz|publisher=Phaidon|chapter=Interview with Hamza Walker|year=2023|page=26|isbn=9781838664800|language=en}}</ref>

In May 2024 the painting was one of five painted with "Me Too" at the [[Centre Pompidou-Metz]] by two women in a performance art stunt organised by [[Deborah De Robertis]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/07/gustave-courbet-vagina-painting-vandalised-metoo-graffiti|title=Painting of vagina by French artist Gustave Courbet sprayed with 'MeToo' graffiti|newspaper=The Guardian|date=7 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/05/07/courbets-the-origin-of-the-world-daubed-with-me-too-at-centre-pompidou-metz|author=Gareth Harris|date=May 7, 2024|title=Courbet's 'The Origin of the World' daubed with Me Too at Centre Pompidou-Metz|work=The Art Newspaper}}</ref> in protest of predatory and exploitative behavior by exhibition curator Bernard Marcadé and other men in the art world.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3262298/2-women-charged-spraying-metoo-graffiti-nude-painting-paris-museum | title=2 women charged with spraying MeToo graffiti on nude painting at Paris museum | date=11 May 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.instagram.com/p/C6pDYqaLBNK/?hl=en | title=Instagram }}</ref>

In October 2024, in her book "The Underside of the Origin of the World", Giselle Blanchard shows that the attribution of the painting to Courbet is an axiom, a truth that seems so self-evident that it would be useless to demonstrate it. In an original conjecture, in the form of a detective novel, the author puts forward arguments suggesting that another great figure of realistic art could be at the origin of "The Origin of the World".
Giselle Blanchard, “[https://www.babelio.com/livres/Blanchard-Les-dessous-de-lorigine-du-monde/1732146 The underside of the Origin of the World]”, Editions du Palio, 2024, ISBN 9782354491321

==Censorship and legal battles==
In February 1994, the novel {{Lang|fr|Adorations perpétuelles}} (''Perpetual Adorations'') by {{Interlanguage link|Jacques Henric|fr}} reproduced {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} on its cover. Police visited several French bookshops to have them withdraw the book from their windows. A few proprietors maintained the book, but others complied, and some voluntarily removed it.{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}}

In February 2011, [[Facebook]] censored {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} after it was posted by Copenhagen-based artist Frode Steinicke, to illustrate his comments about a television program aired on DR2. Following the incident, many other Facebook users defiantly changed their profile pictures to the Courbet painting in an act of solidarity with Steinicke. Facebook, which originally disabled Steinicke's profile, finally re-enabled it without the {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} picture. As the case won media attention, Facebook deleted other pages about the painting.<ref>Emily Greenberg [http://cornellsun.com/node/46245 "Facebook, Censorship and Art"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105104721/http://cornellsun.com/node/46245 |date=2011-11-05 }}, ''Cornell Daily Sun'', 8 March 2011</ref><ref>Dépêche AFP du 17/02/10 [https://web.archive.org/web/20110222164704/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jvF1OWi_2s8sEFr2VEnAUYozmU0g?docId=CNG.9ddadf8072b82cd68b8e61e1dcc3a108.7e1 "{{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} de Courbet interdit de Facebook pour cause de nudité"]</ref>

In October 2011, again, a complaint was lodged against Facebook with the [[Tribunal de grande instance de Paris]] (Paris court of general jurisdiction) by a French Facebook user after his profile was disabled for showing a picture of {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}. The picture was a link to a television program aired on [[Arte]] about the history of the painting. As he got no answer to his emails to Facebook, he decided to lodge a complaint for "infringement of freedom of expression" and against the legality of Facebook's terms which define the courts located in Santa Clara County, California, as the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all litigating claims.<ref>[http://www.lepoint.fr/culture/l-origine-du-monde-assigne-facebook-en-justice-24-10-2011-1388626_3.php "{{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} assigne Facebook en justice"], ''[[Le Point]]'', 24 October 2011</ref> In February 2016, the Paris court ruled that Facebook could be sued in France.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/facebook-faces-trial-in-france-over-nudity-censorship-case-a6871791.html|title=Facebook in landmark censorship case after banning user who posted naked artwork|date=13 February 2016|newspaper=The Independent}}</ref>

In 2018 the French court ruled that Facebook had been wrong to close his account. Facebook has changed its policies to allow naked images in art works, and made a donation to a French street art association.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/45519/1/facebook-censorship-dispute-gustave-courtbet-lorigine-du-monde-vagina|title=Facebook finally settles censorship dispute over Courbet 'vagina painting'|date=6 August 2019|website=Dazed}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/08/06/long-running-facebook-battle-over-censored-courbet-painting-gets-happy-ending|title=Long-running Facebook battle over censored Courbet painting gets happy ending|date=6 August 2019|newspaper=The Art Newspaper|first1=Gareth|last1=Harris}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2018/03/16/french-court-makes-mixed-ruling-in-courbet-censorship-case|title=French court makes mixed ruling in Courbet 'censorship' case|date=16 March 2018|newspaper=The Art Newspaper|first1=Victoria|last1=Stapley-Brown}}</ref>

==Filmography==
*Jean Paul Fargier, {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}, 1996, 26 minutes<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.arte.tv/fr/art-musique/Gustave-Courbet/A-l-antenne/1717472.html
|title = Documentaire de Jean-Paul Fargier
|access-date = 14 July 2008
|date = 2 November 2007
|publisher = [[Arte|arte tv]]
|language = fr
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081229160344/http://www.arte.tv/fr/art-musique/Gustave-Courbet/A-l-antenne/1717472.html
|archive-date = 29 December 2008
}}</ref>

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
*{{cite journal|first=Philippe|last=Dagen|date=21 June 1995|title=Le Musée d'Orsay dévoile ''L'Origine du monde''|journal=[[Le Monde]]}}
*{{cite journal|first=Philippe|last=Dagen|date=22 October 1996|title=Sexe, peinture et secret|journal=Le Monde}}
*{{cite book |last=Du Camp |first=Maxime |author-link=Maxime du Camp |date=1878 |title=Les Convulsions de Paris |volume=II: ''Épisodes de la Commune'' |url=https://archive.org/stream/lesconvulsionsde02ducauoft#page/180/mode/2up |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Hachette }}
*{{cite book|first=Isabelle Enaud|last=Lechien|title=James Whistler|publisher=ACR Édition}}
*{{cite book|first=Stéphane |last=Guégan|author2=Michèle Haddad|title=L'ABCdaire de Courbet|publisher=Flammarion}}
*{{cite news |last=Noiville |first=Florence |author-link=Florence Noiville |date=25 March 1994 |title=Le retour du puritanisme |work=Le Monde }}
*{{cite book|first=Thierry |last=Savatier|title=L'Origine du monde, histoire d'un tableau de Gustave Courbet|location=Paris|publisher=Bartillat|year=2006}}
*{{cite book|first=Thomas |last=Schlesser|chapter=L'Origine du monde|title=Dictionnaire de la pornographie|location=Paris|publisher=Presses Universitaires de France|year=2005}}
*{{cite book|first=Bernard |last=Teyssèdre|title=Le roman de l'Origine|location=Paris|publisher=Gallimard|year=1996}}
*{{cite journal |first1=Paola |last1=Uparella |first2=Carlos A. |last2=Jauregui |title=The Vagina and the Eye of Power (Essay on Genitalia and Visual Sovereignty) |journal=H-Art |volume=3 |date=2018 |issue=3 |pages=79–114|doi=10.25025/hart03.2018.04 |doi-access=free }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|L'Origine du monde (Gustave Courbet)}}
* [http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/search/commentaire/commentaire_id/the-origin-of-the-world-3122.html Musée d'Orsay: {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319102750/http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/search/commentaire/commentaire_id/the-origin-of-the-world-3122.html |date=19 March 2016 }} {{in lang|en}}
* [http://www.musee-orsay.fr/index.php?id=851&L=0&tx_commentaire_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=125&no_cache=1 Musée d'Orsay: {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}] {{in lang|fr}}
* [http://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/collections/catalogue-des-oeuvres/notice.html?no_cache=1&nnumid=69330 Musée d'Orsay: {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}} – Notice d´Oeuvre] {{in lang|fr}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150217201825/http://www.caraa.fr/EN/detail-actu.php?actu=18 News from CARAA] {{in lang|fr}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101205031018/http://www.franceculture.com/culture-ac-l-origine-du-monde-de-courbet-l-origine-du-monde-de-courbet.html Conference from Musée d'Orsay] {{in lang|fr}}
* [http://www.francois-murez.com/compocourbet%20en.htm Composition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905123711/http://www.francois-murez.com/compocourbet%20en.htm |date=5 September 2019 }} of {{Lang|fr|L'Origine du monde}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45637037 2018 BBC story]

{{Gustave Courbet}}
{{Musée d'Orsay}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Origine Du Monde}}
[[Category:1866 paintings]]
[[Category:Censorship in the arts]]
[[Category:Paintings in the Musée d'Orsay]]
[[Category:Erotic art]]
[[Category:Nude paintings of women]]
[[Category:Paintings by Gustave Courbet]]
[[Category:Vagina and vulva in art]]
[[Category:Sexuality in arts]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in painting]]
[[Category:Paintings of women]]

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L'Origine du monde