Courbet masterpiece arrives in Naples for the first time, at the Capodimonte Museum, from Paris

From the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, to Naples: the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte is hosting Gustave Courbet’s Les Demoiselles des bords de la Seine (été) for the first time in the Neapolitan city. The painting by the greatest exponent of French realism is the museum’sFrench guest and will be on public view from Nov. 7, 2024 to Feb. 23, 2025 in Room 6.

The work, presented at the Paris Salon in 1857, caused an immediate stir because of the sensuality implied in the scene: on a sultry summer day, two young women, probably prostitutes, are lying on the grass beside the river, immersed in a dense, humid climate suggested by the hint of sweat on their skin.

At first glance, the work seems to recall the pictorial tradition of female figures by Giorgione and Titian, reinterpreted, however, by Courbet in the light of seventeenth-century Spanish painting, particularly that of Ribera. Courbet, with his realism, captures the simplicity of everyday outdoor life and summer rest, paving the way for the great tradition of paintings set along the banks of the Seine, a subject that would be further explored by the Impressionists in the next generation.

Courbet’s art attracted many artists from the Neapolitan school who, having traveled to Paris in the second half of the nineteenth century, found insights there to renew academic painting, moving beyond Naturalism to embrace Realism. Among them, Michele Cammarano, Francesco Saverio Altamura, Domenico Morelli, the Palizzi brothers, Francesco Netti and Antonio Mancini were influenced by Courbet’s works, appreciating their strong social content, chromatic contrasts and marked attention to chiaroscuro, in continuity with the naturalistic tradition of the 17th century, particularly dear to Neapolitan artists.

“With this display, a new space dedicated to the dialogue between Capodimonte and other international museums is opened, bringing significant works from the history of world art to Naples,” said Director of the Capodimonte Museum and Real Bosco Eike Schmidt. “As in the case of our ’French Guest,’ a painting that caused much discussion in the society of the time because of its modern subject matter and realism in the then-new theme of outdoor pleasures and amusements. Les Demoiselles des bords de la Seine (été) is indeed a loan of great cultural significance not only for the Capodimonte Museum and Real Bosco but also for the city: indeed, there are so many nineteenth-century Neapolitan artists who, in their own works, show the fascination exerted on them by Courbet’s art and personality itself.”

Image: Gustave Courbet, Les demoiselles des bords de la Seine (été) (1857; oil on canvas, 205.5 x 239 cm; Paris, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris)

Courbet masterpiece arrives in Naples for the first time, at the Capodimonte Museum, from Paris

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