Louis Dubois, standard-bearer of realism in Belgium, opposed traditional art education at the academy. With Gustave Courbet as his great example he wanted a free, realistic style based on his own observation instead of on rules. Together with like-minded artists, in 1868 he founded La Société Libre des Beaux-Arts. Dubois became familiar with landscapes, allegories, portraits and occasional still lifes. He is represented with his work in the collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels.