COURBET: ‘THE DESPERATE MAN’

Courbet’s painting ‘The Desperate Man’ is a captivating self portrait,

capturing pathos and desperation in his eyes. The viewer is left with questions
such as: ‘what has caused this despair?’ or ‘why is he pulling at his hair in such a
distressed manner?’ I feel the painting, especially a as self-portrait, gives the
viewer an insight into the artist’s life and inner emotion.

This painting is one of Coubet’s earlier works, during a time when he

produced many other self-portraits. This enabled him to establish himself as an
artist and well as experimenting with developing his own style. ‘The Desperate
Man’, like the other self-portraits, is more romantic in style, accentuating colours
and tones within the image. This later developed into a more refined realistic
style, seen in his later work.

I really like the paintings strong shadows and highlights, enforcing the look
of desperation in Courbet’s face. I also feel the smoothed texture of the clothing
makes the painting less harsh on the eye and more exaggerated to create the
romantic effect.