A foundational manifesto of Realism that triggered a massive critical uproar at the 1850–1851 Paris Salon. Courbet daringly co-opted a monumental canvas size—historically reserved strictly for high-status History Painting—to depict an unpretentious provincial funeral for his grandfather in his hometown of Ornans. Denying viewers academic melodrama or spiritual ascension, Courbet rendered over 40 local townspeople with unvarnished portrait truth. The open grave at the canvas's bottom edge intrudes directly into the viewer's immediate space, while the dark, somber palette and horizontal, frieze-like arrangement declare a democratic, anti-heroic view of mortality.