L'origine du monde, Gustave Courbet's 1866 work, has been subject to numerous obscenity controversies, most recently Meta's protracted 8 year lawsuit arguing it violated their community standards.
But a more interesting question is this: who is the model?
There's four possible candidates, so we'll discuss one each day...
Image courtesy of Musée d'Orsay.
The first possible model for L'origine du monde is muse, model and later, antiques dealer, Joanna Hiffernan (1843-1886).
Image: Jo, The Beautiful Irishwoman by Gustave Courbet, circa 1865-1866. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Jo Hiffernan was a mistress of artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler (of Whistler's Mother fame; Whistler's mother herself reputedly despised Hiffernan). She modelled for Whistler on many occasions, and he trusted her with looking after his business arrangements when he was away.
Here's one of Whistler's paintings of Hiffernan, which is a colossal mood. Wapping by James Whistler, 1861. National Gallery of Arts, USA.
Hiffernan likely met Courbet visiting Paris with Whistler in 1864. In 1866, Whistler went away on a long trip, and Hiffernan visited Paris that year, posing for several paintings for Courbet.
We'll remind you L'origine du monde was painted in 1866.
In further evidence towards the model being Hiffernan, shortly after this, two things happened: Hiffernan and Whistler broke up, and Whistler and Courbet fell out. It's strongly speculated that Courbet and Hiffernan had an affair.
So in 1866, Jo Hiffernan was in Paris, posing for paintings with Courbet - some of them nude - and whatever went down during that time was intimate enough to cause ripples with her partner. Surely it's conclusive that it was Hiffernan's vulva in the painting?
Not quite. One of the key things which could rule Hiffernan out is right there in L'origine du monde, in plain sight: Hiffernan was a redhead. The pubic hair in the painting is black.
The red-headed model in The Sleepers is Jo Hiffernan, while the dark-haired model's name is not known.
Now, we don't mean to be creepy, but in The Sleepers, you get a look at Hiffernan's vulva and... it's not got black hair. Again, this doesn't entirely rule her out, as she might have shaved for this painting. However, the dark-haired model's colouring matches L'origine du monde better.
Since we don't have much to say about the dark-haired model, let's round off today with a little more about Jo Hiffernan, and what happened after she broke up with Whistler. She remained close enough to assist in raising Whistler's son. She later became an antiques and art dealer, selling among other things, paintings made by Courbet.
That's all for today. Tomorrow we'll look at another theorised model for L'origine du monde...
We've looked at Courbet's models, and perhaps one of them modelled for L'origine du monde. But let's pause to ask *why* the painting was made in the first place? To answer this, we're briefly going to have to talk about a man...
Meet Khalil Sherif Pasha, usually known as Khalil Bey in 19th century Paris. A diplomat and art collector, he two commissioned works from Courbet: The Sleepers, and L'origine du monde.
Born in Cairo, Kalil spent his career as an Ottoman diplomat, before retiring to Paris in the mid 1860s to live his best life as a gambler, art collector and playboy. He entertained mistresses - one of them may have been the L'origine du monde model, per his commission.
One of Kalil Bey's lovers was Marie-Anne Detourbay, a courtesan and literary salon host.
Portrait by Amaury Duval, 1862. Musée d'Orsay
Vagina Museum
Medea Vanamonde🏳️⚧️ ♀