Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet (UK: /ˈmæneɪ/, US: /mæˈneɪ, məˈ-/; French: [edwaʁ manɛ]; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.

Born into an upper-class household with strong political connections, Manet rejected the naval career originally envisioned for him; he became engrossed in the world of painting. His early masterworks, The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l'herbe) and Olympia, premiering in 1863 and '65, respectively, caused great controversy with both critics and the Academy of Fine Arts, but soon were praised by progressive artists as the breakthrough acts to the new style, Impressionism. These works, along with others, are considered watershed paintings that mark the start of modern art. The last 20 years of Manet's life saw him form bonds with other great artists of the time; he developed his own simple and direct style that would be heralded as innovative and serve as a major influence for future painters.

Édouard Manet was born in Paris on 23 January 1832, in the ancestral hôtel particulier (mansion) on the Rue des Petits Augustins (now Rue Bonaparte) to an affluent and well-connected family. He had two younger brothers, Eugène (born 1833) and Gustave (born 1835). His mother, Eugénie-Desirée Fournier, was the daughter of a diplomat and goddaughter of the Swedish crown prince Charles Bernadotte, from whom the Swedish monarchs are descended. His father, Auguste Manet, was a French judge who expected Édouard to pursue a career in law. His uncle, Edmond Fournier, encouraged him to pursue painting and took young Manet to the Louvre. In 1844, he enrolled at secondary school, the Collège Rollin, where he boarded until 1848. He showed little academic talent and was generally unhappy at the school. In 1845, at the advice of his uncle, Manet enrolled in a special course of drawing where he met Antonin Proust, future Minister of Fine Arts and his lifelong friend.

At his father's suggestion, in 1848 he sailed on a training vessel to Rio de Janeiro. After he twice failed the examination to join the Navy, his father relented to his wishes to pursue an art education. From 1850 to 1856, Manet studied under the academic painter Thomas Couture. Couture encouraged his students to paint contemporary life, though he would eventually be horrified by Manet's choice of lower-class and "degenerate" subjects such as The Absinthe Drinker. In his spare time, Manet copied Old Masters such as Diego Velázquez and Titian in the Louvre.

From 1853 to 1856, Manet made brief visits to Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, during which time he was influenced by the Dutch painter Frans Hals and the Spanish artists Velázquez and Francisco José de Goya.

In 1856, Manet opened a studio. His style in this period was characterized by loose brush strokes, simplification of details, and the suppression of transitional tones. Adopting the current style of realism initiated by Gustave Courbet, he painted The Absinthe Drinker (1858–59) and other contemporary subjects such as beggars, singers, Romani, people in cafés, and bullfights. After his early career, he rarely painted religious, mythological, or historical subjects; religious paintings from 1864 include his Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers and The Dead Christ with Angels.

Manet had two canvases accepted at the Salon in 1861. A portrait of his mother and father (Portrait of Monsieur and Madame Manet), the latter of whom at the time was paralysed by a stroke or advanced syphilis, was ill-received by critics. The other, The Spanish Singer, was admired by Théophile Gautier, and placed in a more conspicuous location as a result of its popularity with Salon-goers. Manet's work, which appeared "slightly slapdash" when compared with the meticulous style of so many other Salon paintings, intrigued some young artists and brought new business to his studio. According to one contemporary source, The Spanish Singer, painted in a "strange new fashion[,] caused many painters' eyes to open and their jaws to drop."

In 1862, Manet exhibited Music in the Tuileries (probably painted in 1860), one of his first masterpieces. With its portrayal of a crowd of subjects at the Jardin des Tuileries, the painting shows the outdoor leisure of contemporary Paris, which would be a lifelong subject of Manet's. Among the figures in the gardens are the poet Charles Baudelaire, the musician Jacques Offenbach, and others of Manet's family and friends, including a self-portrait of the artist.