Woman with Pigeons

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

Though Gustave Courbet was best known for his early paintings of French peasants, in later decades he focused on scenes of animals, displaying his virtuosic talent for creating naturalistic depictions of stags, foxes, hounds, and birds. Here, Courbet adds two pigeons to this unconventional portrait, in which the subject turns slightly away from the viewer. Small details invite comparison between the woman and the birds. Ribbons adorn both the sitter's hair and one of the pigeons, her earring glows like a bird's eye, and the silken feathers seem to mirror the abundant waves of her hair.

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