The Chateau de Chillon 1874

Gustave Courbet painted "The Chateau de Chillon" with oil on canvas sometime in the mid-19th century. This painting presents a castle, which had been made famous in an 1816 poem by Lord Byron, set against an idyllic vista of lake and mountains in Switzerland. Courbet's choice of subject is telling. His project of Realism aimed to democratize art by depicting everyday subjects. But here he’s painting a castle, a structure weighted with aristocratic associations, one further romanticized by Byron. The answer lies in the rising tourist industry of the period. Places like Chillon became popular destinations, accessible to a new middle-class public. Courbet, therefore, offers us a picturesque view of the castle, emphasizing its accessibility as a site for modern leisure. We can examine guidebooks, railway schedules, and tourist accounts to get a clearer view of the complex social forces that shaped the artist's vision, and thus to properly contextualize Courbet's art.