Édouard Manet: Elder Statesman

Although Édouard Manet never participated in the Impressionists’ exhibitions, he strongly identified with the group in terms of independence and innovation and was dubbed the Impressionists’ “elder statesman.” His unique, two-dimensional style of painting significantly influenced modern art.

Born in Paris in 1832, Édouard Manet initially studied with historian artist Thomas Couture from 1856 to 1859. He used to copy old master paintings at the Louvre and drew at the Académie Suisse together with similar minded artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Paul Cézanne. In 1859, at the age of 27, the first painting he submitted was rejected by the Salon de Paris, the art exhibition of the prestigious Académie des Beaux-Arts. Manet traveled extensively throughout Europe in the following years, visiting Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Everyday life scenes served as subjects, and he mainly applied colors with exceptionally short brushstrokes.

In 1861, his works were eventually accepted by the official Salon, receiving favorable press, whereupon he then started exhibiting at the Parisian gallery Martinet. It was at that time when he met painter Edgar Degas and novelist Charles Baudelaire. In 1865, his pieces “Olympia” (portraying a naked white female) and “Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers” (depicting Jesus’s captors crowning him with thorns) were both greeted with great contempt and scornfulness when presented at the official Salon.

In 1872, gallery owner and benefactor Paul Durand-Ruel acquired several paintings by Manet and displayed them at his London site. At that time, Manet strongly associated with Impressionists such as Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, all of them united by their dissatisfaction with academic painting guidelines. However, in contrast to his colleagues, Manet did not take part in the independent exhibitions organized by the Impressionists; quite the contrary, he still regularly showed his works at the official Salon, as well as in New York and Boston. By this time, Manet intensively painted outdoors, depicting landscapes and street scenes, and his palette changed to lighter, brighter colors, doing justice to the Impressionist techniques. In 1881, he received the Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest order. He died two years later in 1883.

Although Manet never participated in the Impressionists’ art shows and continued to exhibit at the reputed Salon de Paris instead, he strongly identified with the Impressionists in terms of innovation and freethinking. Born in 1832, Manet can additionally be described as the group’s “elder statesman.” His unique, two-dimensional style with the prevalent use of black, gray, and beige tones significantly influenced modern painting.

Manet Today

Manet undoubtedly ranks among the most popular Impressionists/Modern artists today. His name is usually mentioned along with Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, or Pierre-Auguste Renoir. In 2014, the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, California) paid $65.1 million in a Christie’s auction in New York for Manet’s “Spring” (1881) [see picture below].