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How did Gustave Courbet respond after his paintings were rejected in 1855?

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Painting by Gustave Courbet showing the artist at his easel in a crowded studio, surrounded by figures including a nude model, onlookers, and a child with a white dog. — Art criticism *The Painter's Studio*, oil on canvas by Gustave Courbet, 1854–55, in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.

When the jury for the 1855 Universal Exposition rejected his massive canvas The Painter’s Studio, Gustave Courbet responded with a defiant act of artistic independence. With the financial backing of a friend, he constructed his own private pavilion near the official exhibition site to display his works.1

He labeled this independent exhibition "Realism, G. Courbet," effectively using the rejection to self-consciously proclaim and practice the Realist aesthetic. By bypassing the establishment's gatekeepers, Courbet asserted his commitment to depicting contemporary life and the commonplace without the traditional idealization demanded by the art world of his day. Although this specific enterprise was not a commercial success, it solidified his role as the leader of the Realist movement and challenged the authority of the official Salon system.21