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Edouard Manet
(1832-1883)
| Edouard Manet was a French
painter and printmaker, whose work inspired the Impressionist style, but
who refused to identify his own work with Impressionism.
His originality lay in his choice of subjects from the modern world and in his bold, vigorous brushwork qualities that made him an inspiration to the Impressionists. Édouard Manet who is sometimes called the first Impressionist showed that capturing subtle effects of light can be accomplished as effectively by the juxtaposition of bright, contrasting colours as by shadings of intermediary tones.
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Manet was born in Paris on January 23, 1832, the son of a senior official in the Ministry of Justice. To avoid studying law, as his father wished, he went to sea. Eventually, Manet overcame his father’s opposition to his becoming an artist and from 1850 to 1856 he studied in Paris under Thomas Couture, a well-respected academic painter. However, his real artistic education was gained through studying the works of the Old Masters in the Louvre and on extensive travels he made to visit some of the great galleries of Europe.
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Congo Brazzaville 1984. Vase with Flowers, by Manet.
Umm Al Qiwain 1986. Vase with Flowers, by Manet.
Mali 1982. Vase with Flowers, by Manet.
The works of Frans Hals, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco de Goya were the principal influences on his art. It is ironic that, although he was often attacked for the modernity of his ideas, few artists of his time showed such dedication to the great art of the past. 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.
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France 1963. "The Flutist", clearly inspired by Frans Hals. (1866). Orsay Museum, Paris. Semi-postal stamp issued for the benefit of French Red Cross.
Niger 1982. "Still Life with Fruits". (1864). Orsay Museum, Paris.
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.
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In 1863 his famous "Le déjeuner sur l'herbe" 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. 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.
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"Déjeuner sur l'Herbe" exhibited at the Salon
des Refusés, which had been organized in opposition to the salon showing
of the Académie, signaled the beginning of a new era in art. The
Impressionist painters organized their first independent exhibition in
1874. The 28 exhibitors were united in their common rejection of the
prevailing art styles and their admiration for the bold vignette-like
paintings of Manet.
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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.
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Manet was one of the most
influential artists of the 19th century.
However, coming from a highly respectable social background, his intention was not to be an artistic rebel, insisting that he was not trying to overthrow traditional ideas. Throughout his career he sought conventional success and honours in the art world. Two years before his death he was made a member of the Légion d’Honneur.
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In 1866 the French novelist Émile Zola, who championed the art of Manet in the newspaper Figaro, became a close friend of the painter. Also the French poet Stéphane Mallarmé became one of Manet's friends. He was soon joined by the young group of French impressionist painters, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, and Paul Cézanne, 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.
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Rwanda 1973. Portrait of Emile Zola. (1868). Orsay Museum, Paris.
Edouard Manet. Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé. This painting is not a postage stamp, but is part of the above mentioned sheet of six labels of Manet's works. Mallarmé has been depicted on a French stamp in 1998, engraved by the French engraver Pierre Albuisson. Click on the label to see the French stamp. The link will open in a new window.
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. Fully understandable when one watches these exquisite portraits of his French contemporaries within politics, literature, art, and science.
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Manama 1972. Three different portraits by Edouard Manet:
Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929), French Statesman. (1879). Orsay Museum, Paris.
Berthe Morisot (1841-1895), French Impressionist Painter. (1872). Private Collection.
Henri Rochefort (1831-1913), French Politician and Writer. (1881). Hamburg Kunsthalle, Germany.
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, but this distinction -- the kind of award he had long craved -- came too late to be enjoyed. Manet died in Paris on April 30, 1883. He left, besides many watercolors and pastels, 420 oil paintings.
Sources and links:
Other Impressionist painters on this site (in alphabetical order).
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| Revised 27-sep-2006. All Rights Reserved Copyright © 1999-2007 Ann Mette Heindorff |
