Gustave Courbet, he was a great one. 
How can you not love this crazy self portrait (“Desperate Man” 1843)?
Born in 1819 to a wealthy French family, he was well-educated, a member of high society, and considered one of the greatest European artists of his time (he’s considered one of the fathers of Realism in painting). His works were long included automatically in the annual Paris Salon exhibition, which others had to pass a jury review for. But, despite all that (or perhaps because of it) he reveled in poking fun at the pillars of French society – the church, the army, the Academy – and shocking his viewers.
“Woman in the Waves” doesn’t shy from frontal nudity.
This lesbian scene, “The Sleepers”, was considered highly controversial.
Several of his nudes raised a sensation, including “Venus and Psyche”, which was banned from the Salon for indecency (and is now missing).
One amusing anecdote from this New Yorker article has it that Napolean III, who offered him the Cross of the Legion of Honor (which Courbet refused to accept), smacked the giant rump of this woman in “The Bathers” with his riding crop.
But his most famous work may be the below one, with its terrific title, “Origin of the World”, and in-your-face subject matter. 
That image may not be so shocking today, but it was considered graphic porn when he painted it for a Turkish collector in 1866 (almost 150 years ago, before your great-grandparents were born!). (It was later owned by a psychoanalyst who kept it behind a wooden door that he would slide open for some lucky visitors).
But Courbet didn’t just shock with graphic nudity and sexuality. “Return from the Conference” depicted a bunch of drunken priests, and it so outraged one pious Catholic that he purchased it and destroyed it.
Like so many artists, Courbet finally fell into disfavor with the State, fled to another country and drank himself to death.
Amen
