Are These Erotic Paintings?

I have read descriptions of these paintings as being erotic, but for myself I'm not sure. They're in the category of 19th century paintings that received attention primarily because of their perceived eroticism, including a significant amount of scorn, parody, and being banned from public view. Similar paintings were reproduced in saloons all across the country for their perceived eroticism, and many paintings similar to the second one were even reproduced and displayed regularly in upper middle-class drawing rooms to show that the owners were cultured because they could tolerate an appropriate amount of "scandal."

These paintings are both by Gustave Courbet, who I learned about probably four times in four different art classes as one of the paragons of realism, but for some reason these works never came up.

I'll give the paintings first and then give my commentary. I guess some people might be offended by the graphic nature of the images, so if you're one of those people, take advantage of the white space below to avert your eyes.














This one is called L'Origine du Monde (Origin of the World). According to Wikipedia art criticism (surely the best in the world), "The framing of the nude body, with head, arms and lower legs outside of view, emphasizes the eroticism of the work." But I don't see it that way. This is such a powerful realist work that neither romanticizes nor embroiders its subject that it almost gives the illusion of making no commentary, of allowing the viewer to come to his or her own response, be it revulsion or arousal. Of course, that's not the truth. Like all realist works, merely showing the real is not the goal. The real is merely a path to understanding. What we're to understand is that this is where we all came from. That's why the image removes extraneous material to focus on the relevant material, and is composed in a way that encourages the eye to travel from the vagina to the one exposed breast, around which a milk-white garment is crumpled. The second image, Le Sommeil (Sleep), seems to me to really be an erotic piece, though, with arousal as one of the primary effects it seeks to achieve in its viewers. Concealment is one of the means it uses to achieve this. By not showing us what we want to see, it makes us want to see it more. This is also a surprisingly romanticized (in the vulgar sense) image for Courbet. Note the shiny bright skin on the women and the smooth, pale colors of the backdrop. Note also how the women's flesh doesn't press together the way it would with real sleepers. Especially telling, I think, is that the pale woman's head doesn't disturb the idealized shape of the darker woman's breast.

What do y'all think?