ABOUT THE BOOK
In 1866, maverick French artist Gustave Courbet painted one of the most iconic images in the history of art: a sexually explicit portrait of a woman’s exposed genitals—no head, no arms, and no legs. Audaciously titled “L’Origine du monde” (“The Origin of the World”), the scandalous painting was kept hidden for a century and a half. By the time of its public unveiling in 1995, the trailblazing masterpiece had reached mythic proportions. Today, it hangs in the world-renowned Orsay Museum in Paris, viewed by millions of visitors a year.
L’Origine is a novel that traces the true story of the painting’s remarkable journey through the centuries and the colorful cast of characters whose paths it crossed. It is an unlikely tale of survival, replete with French revolutionaries, Turkish pashas and nefarious Nazi captains.
As the first artist authorized by the Orsay Museum to recreate Gustave Courbet’s “The Origin of the World”, author Lilianne Milgrom was thrust into the painting’s intimate orbit, spending six weeks replicating every fold, crevice, and pubic hair. The experience inspired her to share her escapades and recount the painting’s fascinating journey as it passed from hand to hand. The result is a superbly researched work of historical fiction that is more than a riveting romp through history—it is also an examination of society’s complex relationship with female nudity.
In 1866, maverick French artist Gustave Courbet painted one of the most iconic images in the history of art: a sexually explicit portrait of a woman’s exposed genitals—no head, no arms, and no legs. Audaciously titled “L’Origine du monde” (“The Origin of the World”), the scandalous painting was kept hidden for a century and a half. By the time of its public unveiling in 1995, the trailblazing masterpiece had reached mythic proportions. Today, it hangs in the world-renowned Orsay Museum in Paris, viewed by millions of visitors a year.
L’Origine is a novel that traces the true story of the painting’s remarkable journey through the centuries and the colorful cast of characters whose paths it crossed. It is an unlikely tale of survival, replete with French revolutionaries, Turkish pashas and nefarious Nazi captains.
As the first artist authorized by the Orsay Museum to recreate Gustave Courbet’s “The Origin of the World”, author Lilianne Milgrom was thrust into the painting’s intimate orbit, spending six weeks replicating every fold, crevice, and pubic hair. The experience inspired her to share her escapades and recount the painting’s fascinating journey as it passed from hand to hand. The result is a superbly researched work of historical fiction that is more than a riveting romp through history—it is also an examination of society’s complex relationship with female nudity.