In 19th century France, after the dust from the Revolution began to settle, there came, finally some liberté, égalité and fraternité for the French proletariat. The scene is in open French pastoral land - hills rolling; trees swaying in a harmonious breeze; morning dew still fresh on the grass. Looking up towards the overcast sky, there is a congregation of clergy men, peasants and gravediggers up on the cliffside. The scene is a burial at Ornans.

 

Being a realist painter, Courbet’s work touches upon some important aspects of existence, especially its end, death. That elusive concept that humans grapple with and often try to escape. The painting depicts a funeral being held for a relative of Courbet’s where the family and friends of the deceased stand by the grave, which takes centre stage. A crowded and awkward scene is set before the viewer; the silent respect that is expected is instead met with the chatter of the village people, the children pestering the adults, men staring off into the distance, the hum of local gossip among the women. The scene suggests little influence of any spirituality, apart from the crucifix that is held on a wooden pole that looks on silently, small and almost suffocated in the painting by the town people’s babble. There is something menacing about this Christ-like object that looms over the scene, a figure- head soon to be left behind with the boom of the industrial revolution. No one wants to look at the crucifix, even more so the grave in front of them - the reason for the gathering. Even the priest seems uninterested.

 

This blatant avoidance of death among the characters in the painting communicates something significant about human behaviour. This speaks about the human condition of refusing to accept death as a part of life. As Simon Critchley, discussing Heidegger on death, writes:  “…Death cannot be experienced through the deaths of others, but only through my relation to my death.” (Guardian, 13 July 2009).