Manet at Orsay Museum of Paris: Exhibition of Still-Lifes (as well as portraits)
From 11th October 2000 to 7th January 2001

See also the Orsay Museum's permanent exhibition and London's National Gallery.

Edouard Manet (1832-1883)

Whether treating a large composition such as "Déjeuner sur l'Herbe" or painting still-lifes, Manet was an unequaled virtuoso of color and composition. His achievement is the link in the chain that connects the Impressionists such as Claude Monet, with the Romantics headed by Delacroix, and Courbet's earthly Realism. His work questioned the established art by proposing a new way of treating the "old-master" subjects with an exaggeration that was interpreted as provocation by his contemporaries. He must have acquired the taste for parody and provocation during his trip to Spain, and through masters such as Velasques, Goya, Zurbaran and Murillo. The portrait of Berthe Morisot (1872: "Berthe Morisot au bouquet de violettes" now in Orsay Museum) has a Goya-like touch about it as well as the calligraphic virtuosity of Japanese prints. This masterpiece of portraiture shows his abandoning of theatrical scenes and artificial symbols for pure composition of light emerging from darkness from different surfaces and dimensions.

Read further on Manet's life, work and chronological biography.