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L’Origine: The Secret Life of the World’s Most Erotic Masterpiece
US SELFIES 2021 BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
FIRST PLACE WINNER FOR ADULT FICTION 2021, INDIEREADER DISCOVERY AWARDS
INDIEBRAG MEDALLION WINNER
FOREWORD REVIEWS SILVER MEDAL FOR HISTORICAL FICTION, 2020
The riveting odyssey of one of the world's most scandalous works of art.
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. Audaciously titled L'Origine du monde (The Origin of the World), the scandalous painting was kept hidden for a century and a half. Today, it hangs in the world-renowned Orsay Museum in Paris, viewed by millions of visitors a year.
As the first artist authorized by the Orsay Museum to re-create 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 story and the painting's riveting clandestine history with readers beyond the confines of the art world.
L'Origine is an entertaining and superbly researched work of historical fiction that traces the true story of the painting's unlikely tale of survival, replete with French revolutionaries, Turkish pashas, and nefarious Nazi captains. But L'Origine is more than a riveting romp through history-it also sheds light on society's complex relationship with the female body.
FIRST PLACE WINNER FOR ADULT FICTION 2021, INDIEREADER DISCOVERY AWARDS
INDIEBRAG MEDALLION WINNER
FOREWORD REVIEWS SILVER MEDAL FOR HISTORICAL FICTION, 2020
The riveting odyssey of one of the world's most scandalous works of art.
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. Audaciously titled L'Origine du monde (The Origin of the World), the scandalous painting was kept hidden for a century and a half. Today, it hangs in the world-renowned Orsay Museum in Paris, viewed by millions of visitors a year.
As the first artist authorized by the Orsay Museum to re-create 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 story and the painting's riveting clandestine history with readers beyond the confines of the art world.
L'Origine is an entertaining and superbly researched work of historical fiction that traces the true story of the painting's unlikely tale of survival, replete with French revolutionaries, Turkish pashas, and nefarious Nazi captains. But L'Origine is more than a riveting romp through history-it also sheds light on society's complex relationship with the female body.
288 pages, Paperback
First published July 28, 2020
About the author
Lilianne Milgrom
1 book11 followersParis-born LILIANNE MILGROM is an internationally acclaimed artist and #1 Best Selling author. She lives with her husband in the greater Washington, DC, area and exhibits her artwork around the world. Lilianne is the recipient of multiple art awards and is a published writer on the arts.
In 2011, she became the first authorized copyist of Gustave Courbet’s controversial painting 'L’Origine du Monde', which hangs in the Orsay Museum in Paris. Milgrom spent close to a decade researching and writing L’Origine. L’Origine is her first novel.
In 2011, she became the first authorized copyist of Gustave Courbet’s controversial painting 'L’Origine du Monde', which hangs in the Orsay Museum in Paris. Milgrom spent close to a decade researching and writing L’Origine. L’Origine is her first novel.
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