Mane edward

Edouard Manet was born at 5 Bonaparte Street in the Parisian quarter of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the family of Auguste Manet , head of the Department of Justice, and Eugenie-Desire Fournier, daughter of a French diplomat who was a consul in Gothenburg . The Swedish king Charles XIII was the godfather of his mother Manet. In 1839, Manet was given to study at the boarding house of the abbot Poiale, then, because of absolute indifference to study, he was transferred by his father “to full board” to Rollen College , where he studied from 1844 to 1848, without showing any success.

Despite Mane’s great desire to become a painter, his father, who predicted his lawyer’s career as a son, ardently opposed his artistic education. However, his mother’s brother, Edmond-Édouard Fournier, realizing the boy’s artistic vocation, advised him to attend special lectures on painting, for which he recorded his nephew and personally paid for his visits. Thanks to his uncle Edmond, who regularly drove the boy through museums, Manet discovered the Louvre , which had a decisive influence on his personal and creative life. Drawing lessons, oddly enough, Mane did not arouse the expected interest, largely because of the academic teaching, and the boy copying plaster statues preferred drawing portraits of his comrades, which soon became an example for many of his classmates.

In 1848, after graduation, the young Manet faced a resolute opposition from his father to his plans to become an artist. A kind of compromise was found when Manet decided to enter the nautical school in 1847 , but failed miserably at the entrance exams (Mane’s general lack of education was affected). However, in preparation for the repeated exams, he was allowed to go to the training sailing on the sailing ship Le Havre and Guadeloupe.

During the trip, the sailing ship, in particular, visited Brazil . The exotic and rich colors of tropical countries only increased Mane’s desire to study pictorial art - from the trip Edward brought a large number of drawings, sketches and sketches . As models, he often used team members.

From this journey, there were numerous letters to Manet to relatives, in which he described his impressions of the carnival in Rio and the exotic beauty of Brazilian women. On the other hand, he critically assessed slavery and the possible restoration of the monarchy in France. One-tenth of Mane’s subsequent work consists of seascapes, and his sea voyage to Brazil played a significant role in this.

In July 1849 , after returning to Paris, Manet again unsuccessfully tried to pass the exam at the Naval School. This time, the father, appreciating the numerous drawings brought from the trip, no longer doubted his son’s artistic vocation and advised him to enter the Paris School of Fine Arts. But fearing too harsh and academic curriculum at the School, Manet in 1850 entered the studio of the fashionable artist of that time, Tom Couture , who became famous in 1847 thanks to the monumental canvas "The Romans in a period of decline."

It was then that Manet’s conflict with the classic-romantic painting tradition prevailing at that time in France began to mature. The sharp rejection of the bourgeois orientation of the dominant style, ultimately, resulted in a clear break between Manet and Couture - the young artist left the teacher's workshop. However, at the insistence of his father, Manet was forced to apologize and return, although he retained his rejection of strict academism.

The position of the young artist was aggravated by the unwanted pregnancy of his long-time beloved Susanna Leenhof . The fatherhood of the child , in order to avoid ill fame and the wrath of Edward's father, was attributed to the fictional Coelle, and then only for the mayor's office. A different version was also spreading that the newborn is not Susanna's brother, but a brother.

Passion for the old painting led to numerous travels Manet. He repeatedly visited Dutch museums, where he admired the painting of Frans Hals . In 1853, he made the traditional for French artists trip to Italy , where he visited Venice and Florence . It was then that the influence on the young artist of paintings by masters of the Early and High Renaissance began to be denoted. Velasquez made the greatest impression on him. Perhaps it was his later works, especially the famous Bodegones , that most of all served to the development of impressionism as a new art direction ... The return trip to France was long - Mane traveled extensively in Central Europe , visiting museums in Dresden , Prague , Vienna and Munich .

In 1856-58, Manet gained fame as a budding artist, he was invited to various salons , where he became acquainted with the highest circle of Parisian society. Manet establishes a particularly warm relationship with the French poet Charles Baudelaire . Together with Count Albert de Balleroi, the artist rents a room in Lavoisier under the studio. Every day a young artist visits the Louvre, makes copies of famous canvases and always tries to get approval from Couture: Manne was inherent in recognition from an early age.

Mane protests against portraits illuminated by Bengal lights, on whose forehead stars of fake jewels are burning, in his hands is a silver rod.
De Banville, a review on Manet's painting “Le Bon Bock” (translated from the French by T. M. Pakhomova).

Before I begin to conquer official salons, I must pay tribute to the old masters.
Edouard Manet

In 1859, Manet decided that his art education was completed, and decided to exhibit at the Paris Salon , the prestigious annual Paris exhibition. The artist had high hopes for a realistic (somewhat similar to the work of Baudelaire) painting “Absintheater”. He again asked for the opinion of Couture, and when he once again negatively spoke of his creation, Manet finally broke with the teacher. Soon followed a new tragedy: Alexander hanged himself, a boy who helped Manet in the workshop and became a character in his painting The Boy with Cherries. Soon the artist learned that the jury of the salon rejected “Absintheater” (of all the members of the jury, only Delacroix voted for the picture; Manet’s teacher Couture himself, voted against). The rejection of the painting by the salon was fully justified: the theme of the painting itself was unusual - a realistic and unvarnished portrait of a drunkard, and not an allegory, generated by the artist’s imagination. There are also no long-range plans here, while the classical perspective was used up to Manet, which gave depth to the paintings. The edge of the table on which the glass stands is not consistent with the perspective. The shadow of the shape does not match its position. Mane does not use halftones, only light chiaroscuro emphasizes the convexity of the figure. The fiasco knocked Mane away from an individual path for some time: he hardly found interesting plots, frankly borrowed some elements from famous artists.

However, soon Edward finds a new story for the future picture. They served the city garden Tuileries , where on weekends Parisian bohemians gathered for walks and small talk. Now the artist resolutely rejected all the advice of Couture, which allowed him to easily and naturally depict a collection of people. The thematic and technical novelty of the picture again caused surprise and misunderstanding of Manne's relatives. Such scenes of nature were perceived as painting, intended only for illustrations of magazines and reports. Manet rejected the academic technique of "careful decoration" of the painting, in which it did not matter whether the canvas was viewed from a close or far distance. With this approach, the part of the canvas that is visible at close range is nothing more than an enlarged detail of a distant view. In “Music in the Tuileries Garden,” on the contrary, on closer inspection, faces become almost abstract forms. The similarity with the originals is achieved only when the picture is viewed from a certain distance.

Despite careful selection, in 1861, both paintings by Manet (“ Portrait of Parents ” and “ Gitarrero ”) were accepted by the jury of the salon, the latter even receiving an award. The public also very favorably spoke of the creations of the young artist. The recognition of the salon brought fame and money to the artist, but importantly for Edward was the recognition of his father, who even before the salon proudly showed his guests the work of his son, depicting an elderly couple, Manet.

Once again, Manet changes the workshop - now she is in the western part of the quarter of Batignolles. At the same time, one of the organizers of the salon, Louis Martinet, realizing the difficulties for recognition at the salon of young artists, organized an alternative exhibition, among the paintings of which were the works of Mane: “The Boy with Cherries”, “The Reading” and the acclaimed “Guitarrero”. The artist is already thinking about the next cabin, and in the light of this, he is painting The Old Musician , which is good in terms of performance, but clearly weak in the construction of the composition. Reflecting on the following proposal salon, Manet again refers to the etching. Being in constant search, he began to write the following picture "Street singer", the model for which was Quiz-Louise Meuran , a young provincial who was trying to break out of poverty by any means. Soon the artist and the model began to tie not only creative, but also intimate. Rumors spread throughout Paris, but Susanna didn’t find out anything, or gave no sign.

In search of a “monumental” canvas for the next exhibition, Manet decides to paint a picture of nude. The composition was inspired by the artist engraving of Marc-Antonio Raimondi from the Raphael composition "Judgment of Paris". The painting “Bathing” was proposed by the jury together with the less significant “Young woman in an espada costume” and “A young man in a maho costume”. Manet simultaneously agrees with Martin about the design of the exhibition - it will include the best of his other canvases, among which are “Music in the Tuileries” and “Old Musician”, “Gitanos” and “Spanish Ballet”, “Street Singer” and “ Lola from Valencia ” . The exhibition was supposed to spark the interest of the audience just before the opening salon. However, the paintings met a complete rejection of the public and senior colleagues of Manet in the shop. The 1863 Salon Jury also rejected all three paintings submitted to Mane. True, it was not Mane who suffered the same fate: 2800 paintings were rejected. Offended artists turned to Martin with a request to hold an exhibition without the editorship of the jury.

At first, Martine did not dare to be so bold and was afraid to open a salon, but the intervention of Emperor Napoleon III forced him to hold an exhibition, immediately called the Salon of the Outcast . Manet's painting “Breakfast on the Grass”, on which the artist had placed his greatest hopes, was criticized and caused laughter among visitors to the salon. However, the picture caused the greatest attention, and later became the symbol of the Salon of the Rejected 1863 . Manet gains scandalous fame, although not seeking it.

Having suffered a fiasco with "Breakfast", Manet does not refuse the idea of ​​the image of a naked female body. Soon he began to write a new picture, inspired by Titian's painting “Venera Urbinskaya”. However, the finished work caused him doubts, and instead the artist sent other works for consideration by the salon - “The Episode of the Bullfight” and the religious composition “The Dead Christ with the Angels”.

In 1863 and 1864, Manet was exhibited both in the Salon of the Outcast and in the official salon, where his new paintings, especially “ Breakfast on the Grass ”, caused sharp indignation from critics. The peak of rejection falls on the year 1865 , when Manet put his (now-famous) Olympia in the cabin - a picture found by his contemporaries extremely obscene and vulgar and provoking a scandal that was immense in those times.

Harassing Mane from art officials and an “enlightened public” forced the artist to literally flee to Spain, where he, however, spent time with advantage, getting acquainted with the works of El Greco , Velázquez and Goya, finding in them an excuse for his aesthetic taste.

Since that time, Manet, regularly rejected by the jury of salons, moves closer to a group of young artists, who will soon be called impressionists. Claude Monet , Paul Cezanne and Edgar Degas become friends and followers for the Olimpia author.

In 1867, at the Manet World Exhibition in Paris, he created his own pavilion near the Alma Bridge . Fifty works are exhibited - the best paintings created in ten years of creativity. Perhaps it was this decisive step that led to the adoption of his work at the next two salons. Be that as it may, the artist resolutely goes his own way.

In 1869, Manet met a young artist Eva González , whom she offered to pose for a portrait. Eva Gonzalez was the only student of Mane.

After returning from Spain, Manet once again starts writing pictures - despite rumors that no matter how good the next artist's work is, the Salon jury will reject it anyway. At this time for Mane, the support provided by his friends and fans was particularly valuable. Often buying canvases and paints in a shop on Grand rue de Batignolles, Manet soon became a frequenter of the nearby Herbois cafe , among which unknown writers and artists, as well as the well - known Fantin-Latour , Whistler , and were regulars , Degas , Renoir , Monet , Pissarro . Emil Zola stands apart - an ardent supporter of Manet's creativity, an ardent defender of his painting. According to contemporaries, Manet was recognized as the authority of this group; nevertheless, this informal meeting was quite liberal, its participants were not afraid to criticize Mane. True, it was not without incidents: Duranty's reproaches and harsh criticism forced Manet to summon the latter to a duel, the offender was wounded at her. Despite this, Duranty and Manet were reconciled, considering the incident a misunderstanding, and remained good friends until the very death of Edward.

During the siege of Paris in 1870, Manet, as a staunch Republican, remained in the capital. After the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, the artist converges even more closely with the young Impressionists. This is evidenced, for example, by numerous paintings painted in the open air , side by side with Claude Monet in Argenteuil in 1874. However, Manet did not want to participate in exhibitions of impressionist groups. He preferred at any price to achieve recognition of the jury of official Salons. Another hype around his name appeared in 1874. “ Railway ” again caused a sharp antipathy of the jury. It was only in 1879 that the Salon appreciated the artist’s perseverance: the paintings of Manet “ In the Greenhouse ” and “ In the Boat ” were met very warmly.

Manet’s rejection of the order established in France, led by Napoleon III, resulted in his painting The Shooting of the Emperor Maximilian , a narrative about the execution of a protege of the French government in Mexico . Manet could not exhibit this picture in the barrack he had built at Alma Bridge , among others, due to the strongest political resonance.

Since 1868 , in the period of the collapse of the Empire, not one of the official salons has brought Mane fame and creative satisfaction. Critics continued to attack and rejection of the artist's work by the bourgeois public.

Color, - said Manet, - is a matter of taste and sensation, but you have to keep something else behind your soul, what you want to express - without it everything loses its meaning!
From the memoirs of Jeannio (translated from the French by T. M. Pakhomova).

In the summer of 1870, the apogee of the Franco-Prussian war started by Napoleon III. The imperial regime collapsed in the early autumn of 1870, a republic was proclaimed in France, but military operations were proceeding on the same scale. Edouard Manet sends his relatives to the south of France in Oloron-Sainte-Marie . The artist himself, fully sharing the fate of his compatriots, together with many colleagues in the shop joins the army and participates in the defense of Paris. Fortunately, he managed to survive the period of hostilities. In February 1871 he leaves Paris, and in a few days he learns about the surrender of the French government. Even in such a difficult time for him, Manet does not stop working - so, in Bordeaux, he paints the landscape of the port.

Some time later, after the announcement of the Paris Commune , Manet was included in the preparatory council of the newly created Federation of Artists, but he himself was far from politics. Serious upheavals and hardships forced the painter to take a break in his work for almost a year.

After setting up a new workshop in 1873, Edouard Manet wrote his famous painting “Over a Glass of Beer” (“Le Bon Bock”) and was a huge success for the first time in almost 15 years. This, however, did not lead Manet to become a fashionable opportunistic artist (which Courbet partly became after some success at the Salon) - in 1874 the jury rejected his “Masquerade Ball at the Opera”. In 1876, the Salon jury rejected both paintings by Manet. Independent joint exhibitions nothing but criticism of the public and bullying brought the critics.

However, starting from 1874, Manet fully develops his original style, the features of which in many ways bring him closer to the young impressionism (in this connection, Mane’s friendship with Degas , one of the key figures of impressionism as a new trend in painting, is also worth noting).

Since 1877, in the painting of Manet, a striving for still lifes and portraits is noticeable. Especially clearly traced influence on Eduard creativity Velasquez. Gradually, the artist gains recognition. Since 1879, his authority in the eyes of art critics has been growing, his paintings are accepted by salons . At one of them, Manet is awarded a medal for second place, which gives him the opportunity to exhibit, bypassing the selection of the jury.

On that day, when they want to describe the conquests or defeats of the French painting of the XIX century, it will be possible to neglect Cabanel, but it will be impossible to disregard Manet.
Castañari , 1875 (translated from the French by T. M. Pakhomova).

In December 1881, on the recommendation of Antonen Proust, a childhood friend of the artist and the new Minister of Culture, Manet was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.

However, the work of Edward Mans was not fully recognized until the 1890s. Only then did his paintings begin to be acquired in private and public collections (Olympia was practically imposed on the Louvre by Edward's friends, who bought it by public subscription in 1889 ).

In September 1879, Mane suffered the first acute attack of rheumatism. Soon it turned out that he was sick with ataxia - a violation of motor coordination. The disease progressed rapidly, limiting the creative possibilities of the artist. During this period, numerous still lifes and watercolors.

Overcoming the manifestation of the disease, Manet wrote the last big oil painting “ Bar in the Folies Bergere” , which was enthusiastically received at the Salon in 1882. During these years, Manet finally received recognition of his talent - even from those who had fought with him all his life. It became more and more difficult for the artist to not only work, but also to move. On April 19, 1883, Edouard Manet suffers the hardest operation to amputate his left leg, and after 11 days, despite the first symptoms of apparent recovery, on April 30, 1883, the artist dies in terrible agony. All artistic Paris gathered for his funeral.

In 1863, Manet married Suzanne Leenhoff , a Dutch woman whose love affair lasted for 10 years. Leenhoff gave piano lessons to the younger brothers Manet. It is believed that Suzanne was the mistress of Manet’s father, Auguste . In 1851, her son was born, Leon Leenhoff . Manet married Suzanne a year after the death of his father. Leon and Suzanne served as models for many paintings by the artist.

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  Lola from Valencia (1862)

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  Breakfast on the grass (1863)

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  Portrait of Leon Leenhoff (1868)

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  Railway (1872–1873)

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  In the boat (1874)

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  Argenteuil (1874)

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  Slivovitz (1877)

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  Portrait of Madame Guillaume (1880)

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  Zucchini , 1878-79, Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin

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  Portrait of Antonin Proust , 1877–1880, Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin

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  Rabbit (1881)

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  Bar at Folies Bergere (1882)

• Mane E. Life. Letters Memories. Criticism of contemporaries. - M .: Art, 1965.
• Prokofiev V.N. The Life and Works of Edward Manet (introductory article) // Edouard Manet: Life, letters, memoirs, critics of contemporaries. - M. , 1965.
• Prokofiev V.N. The painting of Edward Mans between the past and the future. Some questions of poetics and stylistics // Prokofiev V.N. About art and art history. Articles of different years. - M. , 1985.
• Perryusho A. (translated by M. Prokofyeva). Edouard Manet - M .: Terra, 2000. - 400 p. - (Masters). - ISBN 5-300-02940-8 .
• Perre Katrin . Foucault Modernism (M. Foucault Lecture on Painting by E. Manet) // Art versus literature: France - Russia - Germany at the turn of the XIX — XX centuries: Sat. Art. - M .: OGI, 2006. - P. 148-165.
• Chernysheva M. A. Manet. - SPb. : Belvedere, 2002.

• Description of paintings by Edward Manet and the pictures themselves
• The life and work of Edward Manet on the site Pictures of the Impressionists
• Edouard Manet on Impressionism.ru website
• Gallery of works Manet (eng.)
• Gallery of works Manet (Polish)
• Edward Manet ZHZL
• Edouard Manet biography, gallery of pictures, interesting articles.
• All paintings by Edward Manet
• Mane Edouard. Pictures and biography
• Illness and death of edward mane
• Biography and 164 paintings by Edward Manet