The Bathers

The Bathers is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Gustave Courbet, first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1853, where it caused a major scandal. It was unanimously attacked by art critics for the huge nude woman at its centre and the sketchy landscape background, both against official artistic canons. It was bought for 3000 francs by Courbet's future friend Alfred Bruyas, an art collector – this acquisition allowed the artist to become financially and artistically independent. It is signed and dated in the bottom right hand corner on a small rock. It has been in the musée Fabre in Montpellier since 1868. History The painter had already experienced his first successes in France, Belgium and Germany, with some major figures of the Second French Republic buying his works. He had won a medal and resumed exhibited at the Paris Salon. In summer 1852 he returned to the female nude, which he had previously treated in The Bacchante (possibly 1847) and Sleeping Blonde Woman (1849, private collection), the latter of which included a similar figure to the central figure in The Bathers. Almost 34, Courbet wrote to his parents on 13 May 1853: