Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883), was a French painter. One of the first nineteenth century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
His early masterworks The Luncheon on the Grass and Olympia engendered great controversy, and served as rallying points for the young painters who would create Impressionism. Today these are considered watershed paintings that mark the genesis of modern art.
Édouard Manet was born in Paris on 23 January 1832, to an affluent and well connected family. His mother, Eugénie-Desirée Fournier, was the daughter of a diplomat and the goddaughter of the Swedish crown prince, Charles Bernadotte, from whom the current Swedish monarchs are descended. His father, Auguste Manet, was a French judge who expected Édouard to pursue a career in law. His uncle, Charles Fournier, encouraged him to pursue painting and often took young Manet to the Louvre. In 1845, following the advice of his uncle, Manet enrolled in a special course of drawing where he met Antonin Proust, future Minister of Fine Arts and a subsequent life-long friend.
At his father’s suggestion, in 1848 he sailed on a training vessel to Rio de Janeiro. After Manet twice failed the examination to join the navy, the elder Manet relented to his son’s wishes to pursue an art education. From 1850 to 1856, Manet studied under the academic painter Thomas Couture, a painter of large historical paintings. In his spare time he copied the old masters in the Louvre.
From 1853 to 1856 he visited Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, during which time he absorbed the influences of the Dutch painter Frans Hals, and the Spanish artists Diego Velázquez and Francisco José de Goya.
In 1856, he opened his own studio. His style in this period was characterized by loose brush strokes, simplification of details and the suppression of transitional tones.
Self portrait with a palette, 1879
Oil on canvas,
Private collection ▼
The absinthe drinker, 1859
Oil on canvas,
Ny Carlsberg-Glyptotek,
Copenhagen, Denmark ▼
The old musician, 1862
Oil on canvas,
The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼
Portrait of Victorine Meurent, 1862
Oil on canvas,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA ▼
Lola de Valence, 1862
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
The spanish ballet, 1862
Oil on canvas,
The Phillips Collection, Washington DC, USA ▼
Music in the Tuileries gardens, 1862
Oil on canvas,
National Gallery, London, UK ▼
The Picnic (”Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe”), 1863
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
Olympia, 1863
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
The battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama, 1864
Oil on canvas,
The John G. Johnson Art Collection,
Philadelphia, USA ▼
Women at the races, 1865
Oil on canvas,
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, USA ▼
The dead toreador, 1864
Oil on canvas,
The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼
The tragic actor (Rouvière as Hamlet), 1866
Oil on canvas,
The National Gallery of Art,
Washington DC, USA ▼
Bull-fighting scene, 1866
Oil on canvas,
Private collection ▼
Woman with a parrot, 1866
Oil on canvas,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, USA ▼
The fifer, 1866
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
The execution of the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, 1868
Oil on canvas,
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Mannheim, Germany ▼
The universal exhibition, (L’Exposition universelle de 1867), 1867
Oil on canvas,
Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, Norway ▼
Portrait of Emile Zola, 1868
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
Portrait of Théodore Duret, 1868
Oil on canvas,
Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, France ▼
The balcony, 1868
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
Madame Manet at the piano, 1868
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
Luncheon in the Studio, 1868
Oil on canvas,
Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany ▼
Beach at Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1869
Oil on canvas,
The collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Melon, Upperville, Virginia, USA ▼
The Departure of the Folkestone boat, 1869
Oil on canvas,
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA ▼
The reading, 1869
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
Repose (Berthe Morisot), 1870
Oil on canvas,
Rhode Island School of Design, Museum of Art,
Providence, Rhode Island, USA ▼
The harbour at Bordeaux, 1871
Oil on canvas,
Foundation E.G. Bührle collection, Zürich, Switzerland ▼
Berthe Morisot, 1872
Oil on canvas, Private collection ▼
The railway, 1873
Oil on canvas,
The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼
Woman with Fans (Nina de Callias), 1873
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
At the beach, 1873
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
The masked ball at the Opera, 1874
Oil on canvas,
The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼
The Monet Family in the garden, 1874
Oil on canvas,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA ▼
Portrait of Madame Manet on a blue sofa, 1874
Oil on canvas, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
Claude Monet. Painting on his studio boat, 1874
Oil on canvas,
Neue Pinakothek, München, Germany ▼
Argenteuil, 1874
Oil on canvas,
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tournai,
Tournai, Belgium ▼
Boating, 1874
Oil on canvas,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA ▼
Portrait of Gilbert-Marcellin Desboutin, 1875
Oil on canvas,
Museum of Art Sao Paolo, Brazil ▼
At the races, 1875
Oil on canvas,
The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼
Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé, 1876
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
Portrait of Antonin Proust, 1877
Oil on canvas,
The Pushkin Museum of Fine Art, Moscow, Russia ▼
Nana, 1877
Oil on canvas,
Hamburger Kunshalle, Hamburg, Germany ▼
Plum brandy, 1878
Oil on canvas,
The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼
Bock drinkers, 1878
Oil on canvas,
The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, USA ▼
The road menders, Rue de Berne, 1878
Oil on canvas, Private collection ▼
Blonde with bare breasts, 1878
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
Singer at a café-concert, 1879
Oil on canvas,
Rouart collection, Paris, France ▼
The conservatory, 1879
Oil on canvas,
Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany ▼
At père Lathuille’s, 1879
Oil on canvas,
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tournai, Tournai, Belgium ▼
The waitress, 1879
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
Portrait of George Moore, 1879
Pastel on paper,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, USA ▼
Georges Clémenceau, 1880
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
Bundle of asparagus, 1880
Oil on canvas,
Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Köln, Germany ▼
Manet’s Mother in the garden at Bellevue, 1880
Oil on canvas, Private collection ▼
The Viennese: Portrait of Irma Brunner in a black hat, 1880
Pastel on paper,
Louvre Museum, Paris, France ▼
The asparagus, 1880
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
The lemon, 1880
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
Portrait of Henri Rochefort, 1881
Oil on canvas,
Hamburger Kunshalle, Hamburg, Germany ▼
Clematis in a crystal vase, 1881
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
A bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1882
Oil on canvas,
Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, UK ▼
Villa at Rueil, 1882
Oil on canvas,
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia ▼
Roses and tulips in a vase, 1882
Oil on canvas,
Foundation E.G. Bührle collection,
Zürich, Switzerland ▼
Madame Michel-Levy, 1882
Oil on canvas,
The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼
Lilac in a glass, 1882
Oil on canvas,
Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany ▼
House at Rueil, 1882
Oil on canvas,
Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany ▼
