Edouard Manet was a French painter whose work
inspired the impressionist style, but who refused to so label
his own work. His far-reaching influence on French painting and
the general development of modern art was due to his portrayal
of everyday subject matter; his use of broad, simple color areas;
and a vivid, summary brush technique.
|
|
Copy after
Velasquez, Little Cavalier's
1858-59, Chrysler Museun, Virginia |
Manet was born in Paris on January 23, 1832,
the son of a high government official. To avoid studying law,
as his father wished, he went to sea. He then studied in Paris
under the academic French painter Thomas Couture and visited Germany,
Italy, and the Netherlands to study the paintings of the old masters.
The Dutch painter Frans Hals and the Spanish artists Diego Velázquez,
and Francisco Jose de Goya were the principal influences on his
art.
|
|
Le buveur d'absinthe, 1859
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen |
Manet began to paint genre (everyday) subjects,
such as old beggars, street urchins, café characters, and Spanish
bullfight scenes. He adopted a direct, bold brush technique in
his treatment of realistic subject matter.
|
|
Le déjeuner sur l'herbe, 1863
Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
In 1863 his famous Le déjeuner sur l'herbe
(Musée d'Orsay, Paris) was shown at the Salon des Refusés, a new
exhibition place opened by Napoleon III following the protests
of artists rejected at the official Salon. Manet's canvas, portraying
a woodland picnic that included a seated female nude attended
by two fully dressed young men, attracted immediate and wide attention,
but was bitterly attacked by the critics.
|
|
Olympia, 1863
Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
Hailed by young painters as their leader, Manet
became the central figure in the dispute between the academic
and rebellious art factions of his time. In 1864 the official
Salon accepted two of his paintings, and in 1865 he exhibited
his Olympia (1863, Musée d'Orsay), a nude based on
a Venus by Titian, which aroused storms of protest in academic
circles because of its unorthodox realism.
In 1866 the French novelist Emile Zola, who championed
the art of Manet in the newspaper Figaro, became a close friend
of the painter. He was soon joined by the young group of French
impressionist painters, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir,
Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, and Paul Cezanne, who were influenced
by Manet's art and who, in turn, influenced him, particularly
in the use of lighter colors and an emphasis on the effects of
light.
|
|
Le bar des Folies-Bergère, 1882
Courtauld Institute & Galleries, London |
Manet served as an officer in the French army
from 1870 to 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War. He did not
gain recognition until late in life, when his portraits became
much sought after. In 1882 one of his finest pictures, The
Bar at the Folies-Bergère (Courtauld Institute and Galleries,
London), was exhibited at the Salon, and an old friend, who was
then minister of fine arts, obtained the Legion of Honor for the
artist. Manet died in Paris on April 30, 1883. He left, besides
many watercolors and pastels, 420 oil paintings.
Microsoft® Encarta®
Online Encyclopedia 2000
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2000
Microsoft Corporation
