The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.

Courbet links “beauty” not to prettiness or adherence to academic rules, but to the artist’s imaginative and intellectual capacity—what he calls “power of conception.” The more fully an artist can conceive (grasp, organize, and intend) what they are trying to show, the more compellingly beauty can be expressed in the finished work. Read this way, the quote aligns with a realist’s insistence that art’s force comes from clear vision and purposeful construction rather than inherited formulas. It also implies that beauty is not a fixed external standard: it emerges from the strength of the artist’s mind and perception, and therefore varies with the depth of their understanding and intent.