Manet, Paris, and Modern Painting

Admiring recognition of French artist Édouard Manet (1832-1883) as a painter of skill, innovative talent, and deep personal conviction is a well-established phenomenon.

Born and bred a Parisian, Manet's insistence that French art in the city, the cultural capital of Europe at the time, include a primary focus on la condition humaine and its contemporary circumstances was highly unusual.

His position differed sharply from prevailing norms and stood in opposition to attitudes in the official art institutions.

Recognizing this, Manet devised several strategies to keep his work before the public, including regularly submitting works to the government-sponsored annual salons, rather than commit to alternative venues as the Impressionists did.

He also found the majority of his subjects in the world of contemporary Paris, including sites of popular entertainment like the Folies-Bergère, but also referencing political decisions like France's intrusion into the government of Mexico.

These works followed upon two major early paintings today regarded as Manet's most important masterpieces, Olympia and Dejeuner sur l'herbe , in which he boldly displayed provocative practices in French social life.

Hallowed religious subjects also claimed his attention.

All these works receive extended attention in the course, as will Manet's important posthumous legacy within a group of important twentieth-century artists, a fascinating subject in its own right.