1832-1883 - Born into a distinguished Parisian family in 1832, Manet was trained in the studio of Thomas Couture. He lived and worked in Paris, and is considered the first truly modern painter. By 1874, Manet’s reputation as an experimental artist and a leader of the Impressionists was firmly established. He met with Degas, Monet, Renoir and Pissarro on a regular basis at the cafes and studios in Paris, and even worked outdoors with the younger Monet at Argenteuil in 1874. Although closely tied to the younger artists, Manet did not exhibit in any of the eight Impressionist exhibitions showing only in the official Salons where many of his well known works were greeted with furor and scandal. Manet’s turbulent relationship to the official French Salon represented the emergence of the modern sensibility that became dominant in Paris in the late 1800’s. Manet painted real, not idealized people. Responding to Baudelaire’s call for an art that reflected modern life, Manet painted scenes from contemporary Paris with subjects that included people from fashionable society as well as beggars and prostitutes. He also made references to contemporary fashion, all within traditional themes of portrait, genre and still life. Manet made a trip to Spain in 1865 to see the works of Goya and Velasquez. He returned to Paris, using bolder and more confident brushwork as well as darker color. The paintings, under the influence of Goya, became more flat and immediate like a photographic image. Manet’s art did not comment, but embraced modernity itself with all its ambiguities. It is a tribute to Manet’s genius that themeaning and interpretation of his work is still discussed today as well as its relationship to the rise of the modern culture in which we live.
1832-1883 - Born into a distinguished Parisian family in 1832, Manet was trained in the studio of Thomas Couture. He lived and worked in Paris, and is considered the first truly modern painter. By 1874, Manet’s reputation as an experimental artist and a leader of the Impressionists was firmly established. He met with Degas, Monet, Renoir and Pissarro on a regular basis at the cafes and studios in Paris, and even worked outdoors with the younger Monet at Argenteuil in 1874. Although closely tied to the younger artists, Manet did not exhibit in any of the eight Impressionist exhibitions showing only in the official Salons where many of his well known works were greeted with furor and scandal. Manet’s turbulent relationship to the official French Salon represented the emergence of the modern sensibility that became dominant in Paris in the late 1800’s. Manet painted real, not idealized people. Responding to Baudelaire’s call for an art that reflected modern life, Manet painted scenes from contemporary Paris with subjects that included people from fashionable society as well as beggars and prostitutes. He also made references to contemporary fashion, all within traditional themes of portrait, genre and still life. Manet made a trip to Spain in 1865 to see the works of Goya and Velasquez. He returned to Paris, using bolder and more confident brushwork as well as darker color. The paintings, under the influence of Goya, became more flat and immediate like a photographic image. Manet’s art did not comment, but embraced modernity itself with all its ambiguities. It is a tribute to Manet’s genius that themeaning and interpretation of his work is still discussed today as well as its relationship to the rise of the modern culture in which we live. 