GUSTAVE COURBET put aN end to Romanticism in the art world AND USHERED in Realism BY shockING a generation by painting prostitutes, drunk priests, lesbians, even a woman's crotch.

Blamed for tearing down WHAT HE CALLED "A SYMBOL OF WAR," THE Vendome column, GUSTAVE WAS ORDERED BY the French government to pay for ITS reconstruction. Fearing they would seize all his PAINTINGS, he fled to Switzerland and drank himself to death -- dying one day before his first payment was due.

The SCREENPLAY opens with GUSTAVE meeting the love of his life, a woman he would never marry. Regret, greed, talent and PASSION drive thE artist whose story has never been told ON THE BIG SCREEN.