L'Origine du monde- (II)

At the time Courbet was working on the painting, his favourite model was a young woman, Joanna Hiffernan,  aka Jo. Her lover at the time was the American painter James Whistler,  friend of Courbet. Who was the model for this painting is a real  mystery.
During his whole career, Courbet did four portraits of Hiffernan. She was probably the model for L'Origine du monde,which might explain Courbet's and Whistler's brutal separation a short while later. Whistler then returned to London from Valparaiso. In spite of Hiffernan's red hair contrasting with the darker pubic hair of L'Origine du monde, the hypothesis that Hiffernan was the model for it prevails.
 In color, pubic hair does not always match head hair. Many dark-haired women have lighter pubic hair often with a red tinge. Most women have wavy and curly pubic hair, even when their head hair is straight. Too dark, anyway... Poetic license, maybe? Who knows.