In recent years, interest has increasingly shifted towards the image-building and career strategies of artists. Stefan Borchardt illustrates, using the examples of Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet, how the interplay and mutual dependence of being and appearance, freedom and obligation, authenticity and image have developed. The antagonism between the true artist and their environment became particularly pronounced in Paris from the mid-19th century onwards. Artists faced unprecedented competition here; on one hand, among themselves due to the great allure of the art metropolis Paris, and on the other hand, from new media and spectacles that also captured public attention. In this authenticity-hostile environment, it was crucial for artists to assert themselves. Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet were the first to do so.