gustave courbet had been a member of the paris commune.been accused of helping destroy the vendome column, symbol of french imperialism. [rumble] courbet came from the country. he came from the jura near the swiss border. he saw himself as a wild man from the backwoods. he was a notorious rebel against establishment values in art. the parisian art world was dominated by the salon, a vast state-sponsored exhibition. here large-scale religious or historical subjects were preferred, showing dramatic deeds or moralizing themes like couture's romans of the decadence. highly popular, too, were images of beautiful women presented in settings remote in time or place-- in classical antiquity or an imaginary orient. there were also trivial anecdotal pictures of everyday life. courbet called his art "realist." [church bell ringing] rejecting the idealized vision and false rhetoric of academic art, he painted the mourners attending a funeral in his own small town. courbet said, "it was not my intention "to attain the trivial goal of art for art's sake