He painted paintings that were considered "blatantly obscene" and became the father of modern art without meaning to. The difficult destiny of Edouard Manet.

Édouard Manet (January 23, 1832 - April 30, 1883) was a French painter and graphic artist who became the ideologist and inspiration for the Impressionists, although Manet himself never considered himself an Impressionist. However, this did not stop him from exhibiting at the Paris Salon paintings that were painted in a new, revolutionary way - not from ancient life, not from historical or religious paintings on familiar subjects that had been repeated by all the great artists of the past - Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Caravaggio, Raphael and many of their followers - but from their ordinary lives. A moment was shown here and now, like a photograph, and at the same time Manet was not afraid to openly shock the public, for only a very brave artist would have risked presenting "Luncheon on the Grass" to the judgment of the public at that time.

Breakfast on the grass

The conservative public did not appreciate such an innovation, the scandal was unheard of, and decent and well-mannered ladies were strongly advised not to look at this picture. They even spat on it, outraged by such "flagrant indecency.

Although Manet was simply depicting an ordinary pastime of wealthy gentlemen with girls of easy virtue, it is quite possible that each of them was married and enjoyed a certain position in society, but that did not prevent them from enjoying themselves in this way from time to time. And the society looked at this quite understandingly - at that time there were several thousand prostitutes in London alone, and in Paris morals were simpler, typical British restraint and Victorian morality were absent, so one can only guess how many such cheerful girls were active in the capital of France.

Bar at the Folies Bergère

But at the same time, Manet wanted to be a recognized salon painter, to paint commissioned works and to earn as much as possible. But how did it happen that, without wanting to, he became the main innovator in Parisian painting, who determined its development for many years and became the originator of a new artistic movement - Impressionism? In this article we will talk about Edouard Manet and his paintings.

It is very difficult to find out what Paris and its ordinary viewers looked like before the appearance of the first Impressionists. It is just that for 300 years French artists preferred to paint ancient Greek goddesses and naiads - partly because they could be depicted naked, and such paintings always found easy buyers. They painted biblical heroes, historical figures, but very rarely scenes from real life.

Execution of Emperor Maximilian I

But the young Edouard Manet found all this boring - he wanted to paint modern life as it really was, without embellishment. His teacher, the famous artist Tom Couture, could not stand such complacency: "Since you are a student, paint as you should, don't think you can be smarter than others".

But Manet was stubborn, and it was his stubbornness that eventually led to a revolution in painting, to the birth of modern art. However, Manet himself did not even think about such high achievements - he had much more mundane and pressing concerns - money, concern for his parents, and the desire to make the most favorable impression on the ladies and win a gold medal at the Paris Salon.

Manet's parents were very respectable people - his father worked as a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Justice and really hoped that his son would continue his father's business. But young Manet was lazy and incapable of studying, even when he was left for a second year. As he grew older, Manet began to think seriously about what he was going to do with his life. Law was of no interest to Manet, but when he came to the Louvre, his heart began to beat very quickly, just as it had during that memorable first kiss with the charming girl from the neighboring courtyard.

Railway

And Manet decided to become an artist, but when he told his strict and despotic father of his decision, he categorically declared: "Anything, even a sailor, even a soldier, but not an artist." Manet became a cabin boy, mainly to annoy his father. He set off on a long voyage, and after a few months he already hated this rash undertaking, and there was still a very long voyage ahead of him. Finally, six months later, Manet returned home, but he could already boldly declare that he wanted to do nothing but paint pictures. And these six months were not in vain - he made several dozen good sketches, and his father finally allowed him to enter the Academy of Arts.

Edouard Manet

Manet was lucky with his looks, and his reputation as a scandalous artist, the author of "That Picture," fueled the ladies' interest in him.

He loved women, but he married a simple girl, Suzanne, who taught music to young Edouard Manet and his other brothers. And here everything is complicated - Suzanne gave birth to a child, but Manet's biographers never found out who he was to Edouard himself. Possibilities - brother, son or nephew. In any case, Edouard Manet had a relationship with her for 10 years and then married her. And he always loved her - it was to Suzanne that he wrote the most tender and touching letters.

Portrait of Madame Manet on a Blue Sofa

Although this did not prevent him from having many mistresses, his attitude toward women was somewhat reminiscent of Gustav Klimt or Francisco Goya, only he was more secretive and picky, especially compared to Klimt.

Suzanne understood that it was not for nothing that he painted so many portraits of his model Victoria Meurent, and that Manet and the artist Berthe Morisot were connected by more than professional interest, but she treated this with philosophical calm. The models laughed at her good nature, and Manet himself probably needed just such a woman - understanding, forgiving, and loving at the same time. But who doesn't?

Young woman with a parrot

And Manet, without meaning to, formed his own gang. That's what they called the young Impressionists who admired his work and his courage. He wanted to exhibit at the Salon, but he was painting pictures that could not succeed there - not because they were badly painted, they were just too revolutionary, they did not meet all the standards of this rather conservative exhibition of artists' paintings.

So, in 1863, he took Giorgione's Rural Concert as a basis, added his own vision, and got the very same "Lunch on the Grass". Indeed, with such an approach, it was difficult to count on the recognition of the Salon jury.

Rural concert

The Salon jury began to fear his paintings like fire, and Manet himself no longer expected anything good from the public. They openly laughed at the painting "Balcony," there was too much unusual in it - why such bright colors, especially the provocative blue tie on the man, why the volume in the painting is not shown by the arrangement of the figures, not by chiaroscuro, but by focusing as in a photograph.

Balcony

The recognition came when Manet was already 50 years old and suffering from a serious illness. All these trappings - the Legion of Honor, the possibility of exhibiting paintings without taking into account the opinion of the jury - no longer appealed to him. "He lived and worked as if he were immortal," as the remarkable artist Berthe Morisot aptly put it. It is difficult to paint against public taste, Manet was simply ahead of his time, and his true talent was recognized by the Impressionists during his lifetime, although Manet was not interested in their opinion, and everything he achieved came too late.

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