The Origin of the World: the eternal controversy of the raw female form

Introduction

This essay aims to respond to the provocation caused by Gustave Courbet’s The Origin of the World and investigate how the raw nude is situated in ideological and cultural narratives. Perceptions of the nude are explored via theoretical analysis and demonstrated using a contemporary prism of performance and other radical artworks to show the potential reactivation of this imagery. The central arguments of this discussion are based on Laura Mulvey’s “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”(1975), and Julia Kristeva’s “Power of Horrors”(1982), as a guide in framing representation. These theories engage with artworks from different periods of time in order to investigate the conventional understanding of the female form as the passive gender.

The first chapter is devoted to analysing The Origin of the World (Figure 1) and how it influenced other artists in their practices. The second chapter investigates a possible revival of the work via performance and discusses the active/passive gender division. Finally, the third chapter shows what happens when the female nude is replaced with the male nude, playing the passive role.

*I will refer to The Origin of the World as The Origin

Chapter I: The Origin of the World

(Figure 1) Gustave Courbet - The Origin of the World (1866), oil on canvas, [Musee d’Orsay, 1995 – Present]

The Origin of the world (Fig. 1) is a life-size representation of a female torso filling the entire canvas (46 x 55cm), which persists as one of the most controversial paintings of the nineteenth century. Considering the time in which it has been created, the subject matter is shocking, especially because it’s depicted in such a realistic manner.

In France, Realism started to expand from the mid-19th century, as a response to Romanticism and ideal Classicism. The purpose of this movement was to portray a truthful representation of the contemporary subjects, without any artificial interventions. Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) confirmed his position as a prominent partisan in Realism by questioning the art history of painting and refusing the academic techniques admitted at that time. Consequently, many of his notable artworks have been rejected by the Parisian Salon Galley, widely recognised as the final step in becoming an accredited painter. In response, he organised a solo exhibition in competition with the Salon, where he started displaying his work. For this show, he wrote a Realist manifesto as a reaction to the period’s political circumstances. As a result of his paintings’ explicit themes of modernity and his involvement in societal change, Courbet was jailed in 1871 for six months (Milgrom, 104).

His most controversial works involve his libertine representation of the female nude which challenges the boundaries between pornography and art. The Origin of the World, 1866 (Figure 1) is by far one of his most famous masterpieces, which confirms the artist’s appreciation of paintings as a source of documentation, a depiction of the ugly reality.

Many art critics of that time perceived Courbet’s nudes with antipathy. For instance, Gustave Planche, a famous journalist, stated that Courbet failed in showing the contemporary scene of the mid-century civilisation by choosing to paint “the ugly”, which demonstrates his refusal to accept the ideal forms, themes, subject and composition. (Goldman, 1967: 27). However, Critic Pierre Petroz believed that Courbet’s style is significant in art history and demonstrates a “new progress toward complete sincerity in art”. On the other hand, Theophile Gautier, whose devotion to art and writing style formed him as a famous art critic, characterised Courbet as a “mannerist of ugliness” (Britannica, 2). Despite all negative comments, Courbet believed that painting should be an essential factor which “can only consist in the representation of real and existing things”3, questing the role of artists in history (The Met, 2004). It shows the artist’s implication in annihilating the fantasy art world and focus on the real beauty that nature can offer.

According to French artist Linda Nochlin’ research on The Origin, the painting was never intended for public consumption, but a private erotica collection. It has been commissioned for diplomat Halil Serif Pasha, as a portrayal of one of his mistresses (then sold to psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, then to Orsay Museum). However, Courbet was the one who chose the composition and the title, exposing a new perspective upon the female nude which was never seen before. As such a scandalous painting, it would be kept under a curtain and revealed at parties for his selected guests only (Nochlin, 1989: 81). In this case, the female genitalia evolves into a form of entertainment to please the spectators, which inevitably implies the act of looking at a person as an object, as a passive decorative form. Created by a male painter who precisely observed the model and transferred her on the canvas from his perspective, the painting becomes a product of the male gaze. It emerges from the artist’s desire to demonstrate his avant-gardism and implicit his fascination with the female form, to offer sexual satisfaction to the viewers. Moreover, the luxurious, elegant frame emphasises the idea of voyeuristic separation; the model is there particularly to be looked at.

Laura Mulvey explains the paradox of phallocentrism as an image of a woman is used to provide order and meaning when in relation to the phallus, which can be found in Courbet’s painting as well. This work is meant to be seductive, welcoming female genitalia always there for man to live out their dreams. The origins would not be possible without man’s intervention. Therefore, it validates Mulvey’s theory stating that in the patriarchal culture “the woman stands as a signifier for the male” (Mulvey: 58) toward maintaining a social order of gender asymmetries. However, Nochlin presents the reversed situation, arguing that “without female intervention, there would be no origins” (Nochlin, 1986: 82). Furthermore, without the artist’s mother, there would be no “Origins”. In the same order, without his father, there would be no “Origins” either, but this argument isn’t meant to explain how reproduction works; it highlights the imbalance of sexual power and issues of traditional representation.

For a better understanding of The Origin and its perceptions, it is necessary to consider the time and context in which the artists and their subjects have been working, as well as the medium and methods approached. John Berger argues that oil painting incorporates a correlation between ownership and the way of seeing what is represented in the image, as a result of the history of using oils for depicting possessions (Berger, 2008: 83). Based on this statement, it could be argued that The Origin, confirms both Halil’s desire to possess the body of his lover for his intimate interests, as well as to show off his pride to his guests - a way to prove his access to her body.

In agreement with Linda Nochlin who called the painting “a little masterpiece of overt sexuality” but also “pornography” (NY Times, 2018), it’s needed to mention that at the time, visual erotica was an alternative for today’s porn. Without its context, as an image, it would exist in the world as a pure form of obscenity. However, Orsay’s official website states: “Yet thanks to Courbet’s great virtuosity and the refinement of his amber colour scheme, the painting escapes the pornographic status.” (Orsay, n.d.). I believe that what makes it important is the erotic and tactile sense present in the depiction of flesh, which offers a similar feeling as the craving to touch babies’ skin. One could argue that Courbet’s identity could be revealed through the process of painting the flesh because by looking at the model, he places himself in the role of the voyeur. As such, the painting is a double portrayal: of Courbet’s searches for the origins and of the model’s body itself which becomes a ground of political and social imprints.

Although it was produced to be part of a private collection, the title validates Courbet’s awareness that the painting will be shown to an audience. It also changes the way we look at it. It presents a universal female body as the origins (genitals as the reproductive system, the belly as the womb, and the breast as food), which guides the viewer into perceiving it as a symbol of life and natural beauty, the portal through which all humans enter into the world.

Due to its large dimensions, the viewing experience requires distance; the audience steps back to accumulate all the information and the intimate relation with the subject that is commonly present when looking at a small painting, is no longer present. This separation between the viewer and the painting reinforces the forbidden, untouchable connection with the subject. Under this title, a universal female body with no identity can play diverse roles for the viewer: mother, lover, sister, whore. Courbet drags the audience’s attention to a specific spot by using two sets of orthogonal lines, which direct us straight to the genitals. The use of mostly curvilinear forms suggests a gentle touch, an organic sense of beauty that is delicate and crude at the same time.

Apart from what is portrayed in the painting, it is extremely important to discuss what is not included. Through eliminating the subject’s head, arms, legs, and background, the artist presents a compressed body that ironically does not allow any control upon its identity. The removal of the legs suggests the need for help in the locomotion process, therefore the impossibility of living as an independent individual appears. Having no hands to cover and protect herself implies vulnerability, which confers pleasure in looking when thinking about the female as the victim of fetishism. No head means no facial expression, no brain, no opinion, no one and anyone simultaneously, inclusively the viewer. Although unrecognisable, this body works as one’s intersection of experiences, feelings and beliefs which helps build an identity suitable for every spectator.

The way people cover and decorate their bodies, communicates many aspects of their identity. Here, the lack of clothing and accessories removes any possibility of associating it with a specific person, religion, class and the almost inexistent background does not indicate the place. The impossibility of reading the appearance brings mystery and motive of erotic satisfaction simultaneously. As a result, an obsession with finding who was the woman who posed in such manner for Courbet has occurred. After 152 years of mystery, the model has been given a face in 2017 when Claude Schopp, a French critic, solved the enigma behind L’origin (New York Times, 2018). She is Constance Queniaux, a dancer at the Paris Opera. One could argue that the power of this woman’s body, which has already been exploited by another man to demand his position in art history, has been used again by Schopp with the same purpose. It is the result of the pre-existing preoccupation with the female form.

Schopp stated that his only contribution was “to restore dignity to a woman” (NY Times, 2018). It shows people’s perception of the women who choose to expose their bodies, associating them with immorality. We have always been taught that self-exposure is wrong, especially in a normative society where nudity is correlated with pornography and sex workers are the definition of depravation. It could be a repercussion of religion, as a patriarchal structure to objectify and disgrace particularly women bodies. “the religion patriarchy has been reflected in the artist world” (Polinska, 2000: 48). Schopp’s statement testifies that nakedness has become a socio-cultural describer. By posing naked, the model lost her honesty in society’s eyes, which removes any abilities and qualities she might have.

In art, the female nude has always been a precise subject in the process of objectification and sexualisation. Usually portrayed in a sensual manner, this mystical creature represented a symbol of delicacy, classical beauty and femininity. According to Robert Nye, famous for his significant writings about the male codes of honour in Modern France, masculinity and femininity are the results of the rigorous ideal rules and standards imposed by the society, a cultural construct. In Western civilisations, the ideal man has enormous muscles, dark hair all over the body, a deep voice, is tall, hot and even impulsive, while the woman is placed at a total opposite pole. She must be elegant, fragile, smooth, body hairless and white (Nye, 1998: 126) In this instance, Courbet’s model is the opposite. She strengthens the lack of shame and guilt towards embracing her sexuality and her natural beauty though not covering herself. Moreover, her invitation stands against the active/passive gender roles division within sexual intercourse relationships at that time.

(Figure 2) Lilianne Milgrom copying The Origin of the World, acrylics on canvas, 2011 [Musee d'Orsay, Paris]

As the first copyist of The Origin at the Orsay Museum in 2011, French artist Lianne Milgrom spent ten years researching and writing her book L’Origine. She reveals the experience of reproducing Courbet’s masterpiece in front of the visitors and the complex history of this painting. The six weeks spent on reproducing the original can be considered a performance itself, in which Milgrom becomes a vehicle of conversion, “an authority for the female figure” (Milgrom: 259). She digs into the painting’s profound circuit and reactivates the model while repositing it to a different direction and meaning. By positioning herself in front of the original, Milgrom’s body becomes a passage through which Courbet’s model escapes her mission to be consumed by the male gaze. As mention in an interview, the artist had no initial intention to copy The Origin - “I did not choose this painting – it chose me.” (Milgrom, 2014), as she felt a strong connection to the painting. It is clear that the copyist’s objective was not to reduce the model’s body to mere form for consumptions purposes. In this case, the performance operates as a rejection form to objectification and focuses on reproducing the painting, not on the person.

A similar method to recall female sexuality can be seen in Tee Corinne’s Cunt Coloring Book (Figure 3), which consists of a collection of informative drawings of real, ugly “cunts”. Martha Shelly considers that “colouring is a way for the child in each of us to revision and reclaim our bodies” (Jones, 1980: 106). As such, Milgrom’s painting process could also serve to reclaim and re-examine the female genitalia, which has been alienated from us.

(Figure 3) Tee Corinne – Cunt Coloring Book, 1975.

From being asked to design an Eiffel Tower dildo to receiving invitations to dates, the visitors’ reactions towards Milgrom were varied. There were indeed constructive feedback and compliments but also odious comments such as “I want to kiss your L’origine” (Milgrom, 2020: 28). It confirms that men perceive the artist’s interest in copying the erotic piece as an invitation to sex, which proves society’s fixed presumptions towards gender stereotypes; if a woman takes pleasure in eroticism, she’s a whore.

From being asked to design an Eiffel Tower dildo to receiving invitations to dates, the visitors’ reactions towards Milgrom were varied. There were indeed constructive feedback and compliments but also odious comments such as “I want to kiss your L’origine” (Milgrom, 2020: 28). It confirms that men perceive the artist’s interest in copying the erotic piece as an invitation to sex, which proves society’s fixed presumptions towards gender stereotypes; if a woman takes pleasure in eroticism, she’s a whore.

(Figure 4) Individual research - Screenshot of people's comments from Orsay Museum's official Instagram page, 2020.

This can be also confirmed by one of the Orsay Museum’s Instagram recent posts featuring The Origin. (Figure 5) presents a selection of adverse reactions generated by this painting on social media. As seen, it is primarily perceived as being ugly, disgusting and offensive.

For the psychoanalyst, Julia Kristeva, the turn against the female body embodies a process of psychic repulsion called abjection, which is a form of violence against what one considers a threat. The abject is opposite to one’s ego; if you unconsciously don’t want to identify with it, you find it repulsive. It is “what disturbs identity, system, order. What does not respect borders, positions, rules.” (Jones, 1980: 145).

Because of its importance, Courbet’s work escapes censorship on a platform well-known for removing any form of nudity. In this case, the fact that Instagram allows exposed genitalia to be posted (which is against their policy rules), contributes to the shock factor. It is also perceived with repulsion because it still stands against society’s aesthetic expectations from the female genitalia. If, back then, the use of pubic hair was the opposite of conventional representation of the female nude, nowadays it is located against the notions of beauty imposed by the pornography industry, media and advertising. It could be argued that the raw body is totally reversed to the ideal one because of its contempt to traditional practices of representation and the familiar ways of taking pleasure in looking. Consequently, the raw becomes ugly, the annihilation of desire.

Laura Mulvey discusses scopophilia (a Freudian term which refers to a sexual instinct) as a narcissistic factor when the curiosity and the desire to look combines with the unconscious obsession of self-recognition. The relationship between image and self-image are explained through Jacques Lacan’s example; the child who recognises himself in the mirror. She presents the process of recognition as being overlaid with misrecognition; when the identified image (in these cases the female body) is perceived as a mirrored version on the self and simultaneously, an alienated subject of the ideal ego (Mulvey, 1999: 59). Perhaps, the reactions caused by this artwork are provoked by the guilt and shame people feel about the idea of exposing their own bodies. The repulsion works unconsciously to refrain them from associating themselves with exhibitionism, which in the normative society are strongly related to immorality, the unesthetic.

Art historian Christopher P. Jones describes his first reaction when he first saw the painting as a mixture of “fascination, aversion, embarrassment, and liberation.” (Milgrom, 2020). This could be understood applying Kristeva’s abjection theory about purity and impurity “the pure will be that which conforms to an establishes taxonomy; the impure, that which unsettled it” (Kristeva, 1982: 98). A shy, delicate, nude model presented in a “virgin” posture would always be perceived as pure because it matches the social levels of nudity acceptance in art. In this case, the aversion and embarrassment are explanatory because The Origin’s model is nor shy, fragile, or virgin. Therefore, she is a “whore”, she breaks the rules of morality. Furthermore, the fascination and liberation feelings suggest the viewer’s new perspective: “to be naked is to be without disguise” (Berger, 2008: 2).

Even the Old Testament consists of numerous stories which appear to the voyeurism stimulus. For example, the story of Susannah and the Elders (Figure 5) presents a young, fragile virgin who’s panicked and ashamed of being caught naked by the two old men. The story can be treated as a double voyeurism opportunity, both for the artists and the viewer. The fact that she is not aware of being observed by the viewers as well, benefits the viewer’s sexual arousal. She raises her hand as a self-restraint gesture to protect herself from the elders but remains completely helpless to the viewer. However, her virginity remains intact if we perceive the elders as impotent wimps, but the unstable tension between genders is obvious. This is proof that religion contributed to the control of female’s sexual power which “enable artists to justify his own voyeurism and that of his audience” (Smith, 1991: 176).

(Figure 5) Peter Paul Rubens -Susannah and the Elders, 1612.

Chapter II: Reactivation

The body has been repositioned from being a passive subject of conventional portrayal to an active existence through contemporary performance. As in the following work, for example.

(Figure 6) Deborah de Robertis - Mirror of the Origin, 2014 [performance at Musee d'Orsay, Paris]

In 2014, artist Deborah de Roberts travelled to Paris’ Muse d’Orsay to perform “Mirror of the Origin” (Fig. 6) in return to Courbet’s work. The performance starts with the artist walking in the room where the painting is displayed. Dressed in a golden, shiny dress and wearing gloves she faces the crowd and sits down in front of “The Origin of the world” revealing and opening her vagina. Once sited, she recites the following lines over and over:

“Je suis l’origine
Je suits touts le femmes...
(I am the origin
I am all the women...” (Bomers, 2017).

While the audience starts clapping as a form of appreciation, the museum’s security approaches her with a hostile attitude. The guards sit in front of her to hide the exposed genitals from the viewers, subsequently clearing the room and arresting her for public exhibitionism. The Orsay was totally unimpressed by this act, later declaring it “a case of disrespect” for both the institution and the artwork itself. It could be argued that by declaring it exhibitionism, the Orsay administration ignores the context and concept of the performance and denies the viewpoint and feelings of all the female nudes presented in their galleries “there is a gap in art history, the absent point of view of the object of the gaze” (ArtNet, 2014). By rejecting the artistic aspect of the act and censoring it, the institution reinforces the passive role of women in art history.

A pivotal aspect of this performance is the clothing, which echoes the frame of the painting. While Courbet’s model is compressed by the frame which removes her hands, legs and head, Deborah’s dress takes a reversed function. In this case, the subject controls the framing by placing it in the middle of the composition, implicit covering her breast and belly. This dress confers a form of safety, an obstruction that reduces the sense of objectification and sexual vulnerability. The contrast between the gloves and the dark pubic hair drags the attention to her pink interior. This intervention to the painting reconstructs the model’s body and drags the attention to the initial motif, the origin.

Through positioning herself in front of the painting, and in relation to its title, she becomes the “mirror” of the Origins, a living portal through which the model returns to the world. The use of her own body is a crucial element for the act and its meaning, first of all, because she shifts from subject to object, which provides a valid connection with the painting. Secondly, she serves as a defender for the model’s body, rejecting its process of objectification. The body makes this performance so powerful because she located her nakedness and vulnerability in focus to revolutionise the model’s condition.

In comparison to the painting, Deborah is not inactive. Even though both persons embrace their sexuality, Courbet’s model is not present, is not alive. In such wise, the performance functions as a revival for the painting’s subject, a conversion from passive to active. Being in conscious control of her body and representation, she is the antithesis of the female models in art history. Although she cannot fully control the way she is being looked at, she demands a balance of looking between the subject and the audience while dismissing the boundary between intimacy and social interaction.

On further reflection, the performance as a medium is crucial in her mission for societal change, because it brings dynamism in the experience of dialogue. The relation to the painting, the relation to the self and the audience, are all built through this volatile connection of looking and being looked at. It works as an elaborate extension of the painting which addresses the same problem but in a different time, challenging the presumptions of normativity.

John Berger stated that “the ideal spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him” (Berger, 2008: 64). Unluckily, this is not in these cases. Both works function as radical refuse of a model’s ideal aesthetics, focusing on the ugly body and its natural functions. The title of Courbet’s work, as well as Deborah’s text, are trying to eradicate the erotic aspect of the genitalia. Beyond these naked bodies’ socio-political and artistic meaning, they are real representations of the raw female form as an active subject speaking for its own ambitions.

The intention of Deborah was to expose what is not displayed in the painting, “the eye of the vagina”, which in her vision, it invokes infinity (ArtNet, 2014). By revealing the inside of the “origin”, the artist embraces her sexuality through the process of demystification and liberation from stereotypes. This exposure lies at the intersection between declaring ownership and providing another perspective upon The Origin, which can transform how we look at it. For example, Deborah’s total openness reveals Courbet’s restraint of the female genitalia’s full representation. Somehow, he displays and censors it simultaneously, by covering the clitoris using pubic hair. Even artist Betty Tompkins, well known for her erotic paintings, criticised Courbet for not including the outer labia and the clitoris “it is anatomically incorrect, the realist master did not look” (Hyperallerig, 2014). Considering this, The Origin does not present the central pleasure part of female sexuality, emphasising that she is there for the viewer’s pleasure, not hers.

Deborah’s body position and how she uses her hands to open herself are similar to the medieval stone carvings Sheela-Na-Gig (Figure 7). Sheela-Na-Gig is a grotesque representation of a naked female who is opening her vagina. These sculptures could be found everywhere on the British Islands over 160 years ago, primarily on churches and castles. Over time, most of them have been removed, hid or destroyed by Christian priests, considering them offensive. Today, the remaining ones can be found principally in Ireland (Freitag, 2005: 1).

(Figure 7) Sheela-Na-Gig Stone Carvings (3rd picture - a 12th-century carving, Kipeck, Herefordshiree, England)

There are different hypotheses about the meaning of these Celtic mythological, because their interpretations changed in rapport with the world’s political and historical interests. Some theorists consider Sheela to be the motif of shelter, the flesh as lust or simple erotic figures. It is also believed that Sheela is a powerful goddess of fertility excelling at bearing and raising children, who served as an example for the Celtic women, as a symbol of strength (Rhoades, 2010).

In both interpretations she is perceived as being passive in comparison to the phallus symbol, which is a protector of life and “combats the forces of death and destruction” (Pearson, 1997). This shows how the stereotypes roles of gender were strictly divided and how the female exists only in relation to the phallus, prospect clarified in Mulvey’s essay. Mulvey explains how women’s sexual aspiration is dominated by her image as a bearer and how “she can only exist in relation to castration and cannot transcend it” (Mulvey:58). The female represents castration, which male fear the most. Her child symbolises her desire to have a penis and her position in the patriarchal culture remains a sign of the other, the male (Mulvey, 1999: 58).

This can be applied to Courbet’s painting as well, considering that it was created for a man to sustain his fantasies. The Origin of the World (Figure 1), its Mirror (Figure 6) and Sheela-Na- Gig Stone Carvings (Figure 7) are linked not only by the striking visual resemblance but also by their message - patriarchal order. The slight difference is that Deborah’s reinterpretation of Sheela comes as a response to the status quo. She adopts a more empowering, positive perspective not only for Courbet’s model, but for all oppressed female figures and for Sheela itself. The performance transforms the female self-shame into dignity, and her sexuality into a dominant symbol of strength. The power emerges from breaking the traditional rules of representation and revealing what has always been hidden, the interior.

However, not all the audience was impressed “some reactions were touching. Other were sexist, misogynistic and extreme.” (YesTheVoid, n.d.). How this work was perceived is not a surprise. Its lack of fantasy breaks the norms of the woman as an image. She confronts the viewer by consciously offering her privacy in a public space. Because of her active presence, any kind of looking and dreaming in fantasy is erased. Moreover, the sexual and moral abnormality was, and still is, associated with depravity, prostitution and the lower class (Stoops, 2015). With this in mind, it is understandable why people approach this act with hostility.

Chapter III: The Reversal

(Figure 8) Arthur Gillet - Spontaneous Happening, 2013 [Orsay Museum, Paris]

This work is a performance (Figure 8) by French artist Arthur Gillet, spontaneously produced during the “Masculine/Masculine” exhibition at the Orsay Museum in Paris. Noticing that all the male bodies displayed in the show are a product of the toxic masculinity stereotypes, he decides to take off his clothes and continue the viewing naked, as a form of protest. Moreover, the exhibit excludes any form of queerness. (Gillet n.d.) The artist embraces his condition and walks between people being totally exposed.

The audience’s reactions are entirely positive, and pictures are being taken with the performer until the guards come and ask him politely to put his clothes back on. No charges or complaints against him are taken. The artist is not removed from the gallery. This is proof that the naked body is locating male and female with different significance at a separate time in history.

(Figure 9) Orlan - The Origin of the War, 1989

This work (Figure 8) is a collage created by Orlan in 1989, as a response to The Origin. Similar to Courbet’s, the work is displayed in an extravagant frame to mark its importance in the gallery. The composition reproduces the original’s, but the image presents a universal male body instead of a female. Another common aspect is that both artists ignore the ideal perceptions of beauty; Courbet through composition, use of flesh and pubic hair, and Orlan by depicting a small penis. Through inverting the active/male and passive/female roles, Orlan reclaims the model’s body from the gaze and objectifies this man’s genitalia using negative connotations. Playing a static role and possessing a small penis does not meet the preferable masculinity standards which contradict the fancy frame. This metaphor reinforces the aggressive, foolish battle between men and their power determination in the patriarchal culture “a war of ‘who’s got the biggest?’” (Donger, 2010: 162). In contrast to Courbet’s, the collage does not behave as a fragile decoration form, but as a dangerous weapon. Berger suggests that replacing the female nude with the male nude in paintings would change the energy of the image entirely “notice the violence which the transformation does” (Berger, 2008: 64). One cannot be certain if the viewer perceives it as violence, but its dynamism is shocking, especially in conjunction with the title.

Conclusion

To summarize, the creation of Gustave Courbet’s The Origin of the World represents an important moment in art history because it inspired the next generations to step out the idealised representation of the reality. It also demonstrates that people have always projected their fantasies onto the human body, especially on the female form, which occupied a passive position in relation the male form.

The artworks mentioned above, and the reactions caused by them confirm that the body functions as a cultural conditioner, a describer of what is considered ugly or beautiful. Moreover, the perceptions of the raw female form had not change considerably during the time and the sexual gender differentiations still persist, as a result of the on-going patriarchal order. However, the art world seems to move forward and normalise the ugly, natural body by refusing to accept the beauty stereotypes imposed by society.

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• Yes The Void (n.d.) Opening the Void. Available at: https://yesthevoid.wordpress.com/2017/01/02/opening-the-void/ [Accessed 28 December 2020].