Gustave Courbet (b 1819 d. 1877) was a French painter who was central to the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. He was committed to painting only what he could see, thus rejecting academic convention and the Romanticism which defined the previous generation. He occupies a significant position within 19th-century French art as an innovator and as an artist. He was keen to make bold social statements through his art.