Courbet's Origin of the World reportedly sold to Japanese collector
Gustave Courbet's scandalous 1866 nude L'Origine du monde, commissioned by Turkish diplomat Khalil Bey, was reportedly sold to a private collection in Tokyo. The painting, originally hidden behind a landscape panel, passed through the Bernheim gallery, a Budapest private collection, and psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan's country house. It was publicly exhibited in New York in 1988 and later at the Musée d'Ornans in summer 1991 before being attributed to a Japanese collector.
Key facts
- Painting: L'Origine du monde by Gustave Courbet
- Painted in 1866
- Commissioned by Khalil Bey, a Turkish diplomat
- Originally concealed behind a landscape panel
- Passed through Bernheim gallery
- Owned by a private collection in Budapest
- Owned by Jacques Lacan, kept at his country house
- Public exhibition in New York in 1988
- Exhibited at Musée d'Ornans in summer 1991
- Reportedly sold to a private collection in Tokyo
Entities
Artists
- Gustave Courbet
Institutions
- Bernheim gallery
- Musée d'Ornans
Locations
- New York
- United States
- Budapest
- Hungary
- Tokyo
- Japan
- Ornans
- France
Sources
- artpress —