Edouard Manet is one of the finest artists of 19s century, the artist in whose paintings we can see transition from realism to impressionism. His discoveries of his own style, his rejection of high academic rules, his use of pure colour and his naturalistic view of life had set an example which heavily influenced the Impressionists. Yet the Impressionist were never in any real sense “Manet’s band”, nor was Manet in any real sense one of them. He never painted truly impressionist picture, that is to say one of which is no black is used. He was only impressionist to the limited extent that under the impact of Monet and Renoir he took to using lighter palette, broken brush strokes and experimenting more often than before with open-air subject.
He never considered himself as impressionist and never displayed his canvases at the exhibitions organized by his friends. “The salon is the real field of battle, it is there that one must take one’s measure” he claimed. True Manet aspired to be recognized like Ingres. And yet Manet loathed academism, partly because it falsified the image in the mirror and partly because he felt that the traditions of old masters had ceased to be valid.
Many paradoxes in his life as well as in art can be explained that there’s a deep-seated dichotomy in Manet’s character and that the artist like the man had more than single face. He both was devoted domesticated husband as well as impenitent lady’s man; a pious catholic as well as sceptic humanist; an ardent socialist as well as comforting bourgeois; and finally hard working artist as well as elegant merrymaker. Moreover the synthesis of opposites which was at the root of his character helped Manet to fuse seemingly ambivalent elements - taken from Daumier, the Spanish and Venetian masters, contemporary photographs, Japanese wood engravings and many other sources - into a violable modern style. In art the best results are achieved by intuition rather than by intellectual processes.
Manet’s style was deeply influenced by Hispanolisme, especially by Spanish performers whom he saw in theaters and music halls in 1860s. This period was largely responsible for transforming Manet from a brilliant student into a mature and original artist.
He succeeded because like most of the greatest modern innovators - Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso - he was primarily an artist, not a theorist with preconceived notions of ideal beauty.
Edouard Manet, 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883
paintings - Edouard Manet:
1. Music in the Tuileries Gardens, 1862 - London, National Gallery (Oil on canvas, 76 x 118 cm)
2. The Conservatory, 1878/9 - Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen (Oil on canvas, 115 x 150 cm)
3. Luncheon in the Studio, 1868 - Munich, Neue Pinakothek (Oil on canvas, 120 x 153 cm)
4. At Pere Lathuile’s, 1879 - Tournai (Belgium), Musee des Beaux-Arts Tournai (Oil on canvas, 93 x 112 cm)
5. Autumn (Mery Lautent), 1881- Nancy (France), Musee des Beaux-Arts (Oil on canvas, 73 x 51 cm)
6. Lola de Valence, 1852 - Paris, Musee d'Orsay (Oil on canvas, 123 x 92 cm)
7. The Plum / Plum Brandy, aprox. 1877 - Washington D.C., The National Gallery of Art (Oil on canvas, 73.6 × 50.2 cm)
8. The Balcony, 1868 - Paris, Musee d'Orsay (Oil on canvas 170 x 125 cm)
9. Self-Portrait with a Palette, 1879 - Private Collection (Oil on canvas 83 × 67 cm)
written by Turkan Kasamanli.
Sources: “Manet” John Richardson, “Iskusstvo” Moscow.
