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The Origin of the World: An Icon for Contemporary Art. Athens, Greece, 2016










6th International Conference of Visual and Performing Arts, Athens Institute for Education and Research, 30 May - 2 June 2016

In my second tour in Europe, I presented my research on Gustave Courbet and His legacy in Contemporary Art.

This is my second visit to Athens and the second time presenting my research paper at this international conference. In this research paper, I have explored one of the critical paintings created by the leading artist in the 18th-century realist art movement Gustave Courbet (1819-1877). The painting titled The Origin of the World has been related to me in several ways. The first, it was in 2005 when I was in the second year of the BFA program, I have created a drawing of a woman’s genital in the posed very similar to the painting by Courbet. At that time I had not seen any reproduction of this image. Later, I became to know about this painting and I was impressed by the way of representing this body and the genital of the woman that we are not shown its identity. That was the first moment I started to do my research on this significant painting and the artist as well. My research interest and studio practice on the body have been continuing in many ways. This was juxtaposed with my constant research on psychoanalysis and its influences on art. I conceptualized this work as a fragmented representation of woman. While I have been on so many readings on this particular work, the artist, and the realist art movement.

In 2015, in my first visit to Athens, I went to Paris and explored major art collections in the city. I visited the museum of Orsay (Musee d’ Orsay) where this seminal work is in its permanent collection and exhibited. The Orsay museum houses for thousands of leading artworks by realist and impressionist art movement which bring art into the modern art world.  I observed the painting of the Origin of the World and the room that it was exhibited. The curation of that room was also significant. However, the research paper I submitted to this conference was the result of constant research on the work and my own studio practice.

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