The source of inspiration "Breakfast on the Grass"
In 1863, the artist Edouard Manet painted his masterpiece "Breakfast on the Grass". The idea of \u200b\u200bthe painting was formed during a walk. As a friend of the artist Antonin Proust recalled, once, during a exercise in Argenteuil, Manet saw women bathing. He decided to capture the nude and offer a nude painting to the Paris Salon. The artist wanted to depict a kind of "pleasure walk" - either "swimming" or "breakfast on the grass".
Giorgione Village Concert, 1510. It is about this picture
Edouard Manet remembered when he conceived his "Breakfast on the Grass"
In search of a suitable background, Manet recalled the painting by Giorgione "Country Concert", and the very composition spied on the engraving by Mark Raimondi "The Judgment of Paris". He did not hesitate to "quote" the masterpieces of the old masters, only instead of the "invisible" nymphs and goddesses against the background of the landscape he depicted real people doing their usual things.
Engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi "The Judgment of Paris", 1513-1514.
Manet called his innovative method fragmentation - the transfer of a classical fragment from his native environment to another - modern one. But, as often happens in art, neither critics nor society were able to appreciate the genius of Manet's idea: the painting was considered obscene and was not allowed to the exhibition at the Salon.
By order of the Emperor Napoleon III, she, along with other "non-format" paintings, was placed in a special room, later called the Salon of the Outcast. The immoral plot of the picture: two naked women relaxing in nature in company with men, caused a subsequent wave of imitations.
Pablo Picasso. Breakfast on the Grass. 1960 g.
For a century and a half, various artists, including famous ones, have interpreted this picture in their own way. Many, naturally, with humor. The Russians especially distinguished themselves. Compared to the original, their Lunches on the Grass looks cartoonish.
Winn Chamberlain. Breakfast on the Grass. 1964 g.
Fernando Botero. Breakfast on the Grass. 1969 year
Benon Libersky. Breakfast on the Grass. 1984 year
Yu Mingjun. Breakfast on the Grass. 1996 year
Do not be surprised that all the characters in the picture are the same. This Chinese artist always portrays only himself. By the way, this painting was put up for sale for $ 1.5 million.
Ivan Lubennikov. Breakfast on the Grass. 2009 year
Vasily Shulzhenko. Breakfast on the Grass.
True, they have one woman for two for some reason. Where the second bather is is not clear. But in the background on the right, there are some ships of terrible size, aircraft carriers or something on alert? Well, the whole country in one picture!
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Who knows, Manet's painting would have been known now if an unforeseen event in the spring of 1863, which opened a new era in the history of world art. After all, then, a month before the opening of the next Salon, it became known that about four thousand works were not allowed by the "valiant" jury to the exhibition. A scandal erupted, in which the emperor himself had to intervene.
"A Young Man in a Maho Costume" and "Portrait of Mademoiselle V. in an Espada Suit".
These two paintings by Manet were also exhibited at the Salon of 1863.
Napoleon III made a decision: to open the salon, and two weeks later, in the adjacent halls of the Palace of Industry, to hang pictures rejected by the jury. Let the public watch both exhibitions and draw conclusions for themselves what is worthy of their attention and what is not!
Edouard Manet "Music in the Tuileries Garden" 1859. And with this painting he failed to conquer the Salon.
The society was shocked: this happened for the first time! The newspapers wrote
that this exhibition is nothing more than a "whim" of His Majesty the Emperor.
Music: David Garrett "Air"
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Edouard Manet "In the greenhouse" 1879.
They challenged bourgeois morality, and he himself came from a well-to-do family, and his father's opinion was very important to him.
For a long time he copied the masterpieces of the old masters in the Louvre and really wanted to be exhibited in the official Salon, and his works shocked with unusual plots and a free pictorial manner.
Biography. A stormy start
Born in Paris in 1832. The father is a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Justice, the mother is the daughter of a prominent diplomat. He was given every opportunity to get an education and start a solid career. But studying in prestigious boarding houses and colleges is not for him. Fifteen-year-old Edward tries to enroll as a sailor, fails and leaves as a cabin boy to audition for the next year. While sailing, he paints a lot, since then Manet's paintings often contain marine motifs.
He repeatedly fails his exams. The father sees his son's work and resigns himself to the fact that he will not be an official or a prosperous bourgeois. Edward becomes a student of the rather famous master of the academic direction, Tom Couture, studies classical pictorial masterpieces in different European cities, spends a lot of time in the Louvre. But the style of the first significant works by Manet is not like the traditional one.
First exhibitions
To exhibit at the Paris Painting Salon means to gain professional recognition. It is visited by up to half a million viewers. The works, selected by a commission specially appointed by the government, guarantee the artist's fame, and therefore orders and income.
Manet's painting "The Absinthe Drinker" (1858-59) was rejected by the jury of the Salon, the realistic theme turned out to be too unusual, the artist was too free to handle perspective and semitones - sacred concepts for the academic school.
But in 1861, two paintings by Manet at once - "Portrait of Parents" and "Guitar" were exhibited at the Salon. The recognition of specialists and art lovers was especially important for the artist's father.
"Breakfast on the grass"
For the Salon of 1863, Manet painted an amazing picture. The composition and plot were inspired by Raphael's "Judgment of Paris" and Giorgione's "Rural Concert". At first, the artist called the painting "Bathing", but then it became known as "Breakfast on the Grass". Manet's painting was an event.
The canvas is rather large, which implied at that time the use of a battle or multi-figure biblical plot. And we see a picnic scene of two men and two women, one of whom, in the background, is swimming in the lake. The men, dressed in evening suits, are carried away by the conversation among themselves, and seem not to notice the defiant nakedness of the woman nearby. Her clothes are casually thrown on the grass, her body is dazzling under the bright frontal light, and there is no escape from her defiant gaze directed at the viewer.
Each viewer saw his "Breakfast on the Grass". Manet's painting is mysterious. The surrounding landscape is painted without perspective and shadows, like scenery in a provincial theater. The bather is clearly out of scale with the environment. A bird, frozen over the sitting ones, like a target in a shooting range, looks like a bullfinch, but a bullfinch in summer? There is clearly some kind of story, but the artist does not try to explain it, leaving the viewer to conjecture his own.
The characters of the shocking picnic had a portrait resemblance to specific people from the artist's environment: his brother Gustav and brother-in-law Ferdinand Leenhof. The female model also had a name - Quiz Meran, and a specific glory, which the frog in the lower left corner of the picture hinted at - a symbol of voluptuousness. The scandal was huge.
Salon of the Outcast
The jury of the 1863 Salon was more strict than ever. Manet's paintings were rejected. Of the five thousand works presented, less than half were selected, and the artists complained to the emperor himself. The then reigning Napoleon III personally examined the rejected paintings and did not find much difference with the accepted ones. He recommended arranging an alternative exhibition. The salon of the outcasts was attended by no fewer spectators than the official one.
Manet's painting became a sensation. They admired her, but the majority scolded, laughed at her, parodied her, there were only indifferent people. A similar thing happened in 1865 with another masterpiece by Manet.
"Olympia"
Again the master was inspired by a masterpiece of the past. This time it was Titian's Venus of Urbino. Venus Manet has the body of Quiz Meran, far from ancient proportions. It was she who made the visitors of the Salon indignant - faithful spouses and respectable ascetics. I had to put a police officer to protect the canvas from being pricked by umbrellas and spitting.
Venus became known as Olympia. Manet's painting evoked direct associations among his contemporaries with the courtesan from Dumas's novel The Lady of the Camellias. Only those who did not think about moral principles were able to immediately appreciate the magnificent painting skill of the master, the expressiveness of the composition, and the exquisite palette.
Manet the impressionist
Around the artist, a society of those who would become the personification of the brightest artistic movement in painting - impressionism - gradually took shape. Edouard Manet is an artist whose paintings were not exhibited at exhibitions together with Degas, Renoir, Cézanne. He considered himself independent of any unions and associations, but he was friends and worked together with other representatives of the style.
And most importantly, he shared their views on painting, when the ability to see and express the subtlest nuances in nature and in man becomes the main thing for an artist.
Edouard Manet wrote Breakfast on the Grass in 1863. The painting is exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
Manet painted a painting for an exhibition at the Paris Salon. A strict jury rejected her, but the work received scandalous notoriety. Already at first glance, it seems that the author's goal is to shock the viewer, destroying all ideas about contemporary painting. Naked nature was often found in the works of Manet's contemporaries, but only gods and other "celestials" were depicted in this way. Manet makes heroes not just ordinary people, but recognizable contemporaries: Quiz Meuran, a model who often posed for the artist, her brother Gustav and future brother-in-law, Ferdinand Leenhoff. Let's look at the details to unravel the artist's intention.
1. Coastline
The coastline clearly divides the picture into two plans. The foreground is frankly decorative. Three figures, a dark forest - it all looks like a drawing on a curtain that covers the stage. More precisely, what happens in the background. There we see a girl bathing in a river, a road leading into the distance, and space. This distant shot is more lively and colorful. It looks like a fantasy or a dream, because all the usual proportions are violated there. Obviously, the size of the boat and the river itself should be much larger than the figure.
2. Shapes of the central plan
We see a naked woman and two intelligently dressed men who have a conversation. The shapes are too close to each other. The author enhances this feeling by using the “squeezed” perspective technique, in which objects appear much closer to each other. But at the same time, there is some kind of invisible border between men and women, they do not interact.
Drawing the female figure, Manet chose the tones so that it looks flat, while the male figures are voluminous. They also differ in color. I think that through these contrasts, playing with perspective and distortion of perception, the artist wanted to touch on the topic of gender inequality, the norms of male and female behavior adopted in modern society.
Black formal suits against a backdrop of wildlife look as unnatural as a nude female figure against a background of dressed men. Men are totally closed and intelligent, although everyone seems to be showing sexuality. One of them holds a hand behind the woman's back, emphasizing that this is his property. The second secretly pretends to her, as evidenced by a rather aggressive gesture of his hand, cane and open legs. But all this is superficial, false sexuality, a decoration of living life.
If you cover the naked body of a woman with your hand, you will see in front of you a typical family portrait of the late 19th century. It reflects an outwardly decent, but dispassionate relationship, in which there are no feelings, play, warmth.
3. Nude woman
The figure of a naked woman looks too light, bright, and the author intensifies this "glow", surrounding her with dark tones, forcing her to "protrude" from the picture. She defiantly looks directly at the viewer. At the same time, men do not look either at her or at the viewer, and in this one can read a certain lack of sexuality. It is curious that there is evidence from contemporaries that Quiz Meuran, the artist's model, was of non-traditional sexual orientation. Perhaps the artist tried to touch upon the topic of forbidden sexuality, condemned by society.
Her body is naked, but there is no eroticism here. There is something cold, fake about the unnatural white skin tone, distinctly different from the warm skin tone of the girl in the background. The woman's body is almost the same color as the shirt collars of men. It resembles a porcelain figurine, an attribute of a man. Only her face is alive in her, because the woman's gaze is not really directed at us. She sees the young girl she once was, immersed in those childhood fantasies.
4. The girl in the background
The artist violates the laws of perspective and deliberately distorts our perception of space: the figure of the woman depicted in the background seems too large, she is much larger than a boat and a river; her hand almost touches the hand of the man in the center of the picture.
The girl is like Alice, who suddenly found herself in Wonderland. Her figure is full of life. With her left hand, the girl touches the dress with which she covers her vagina. This gesture means, on the one hand, a ban on erotic fantasies, and on the other, on the contrary, their incitement.
5. Still life
There is something chaotic about the scattered fruit, bottle and clothes depicted at the bottom of the canvas, all of which seem to indicate violent sex. But the figures of people are emphatically removed from this part of the picture. The heroes did not even touch bread and fruits. It’s as if all the pleasures of life, which represent food and sex, are thrown away by them, rejected.
6. Bullfinch
The bullfinch is a winter bird, in a summer landscape it looks at least strange. It is located at the top of the picture, as if on the border of two worlds. His presence emphasizes the fantasy of the world "behind the curtain" and at the same time speaks of the emotional coldness that reigns in the decorative world. Real sexuality has died here, frozen. This coldness is emphasized by the black and white clothes of men and the white body of a woman.
Artist revolt
The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe work is ridicule, the artist's rebellion, opposition to the official art of his time. By the illogical nature of the painting (a strange plot, violation of the laws of perspective, a combination of various writing techniques, etc.), the artist shows the meaninglessness of modern art and says that there are topics that are much more important than the generally accepted classical ones, such as sexuality or inequality between men and women.
In the picture, which, at first glance, is intended to shock the audience, we are in fact talking about the fate of a woman of the 19th century. She is forced to play a certain social role and live a false ceremonial life. And only in fantasies does she imagine herself as that sensual girl and grieves about missed opportunities, pleasure, happiness. And, probably, she regrets that she did not go in search of something else - along that bright road leading into the distance.
About the experts
Psychoanalyst, Doctor of Psychology, Head of the Master's Program "Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic business consulting" at NRU "Higher School of Economics", head of the master's program "Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy" at the National Research University "Higher School of Economics".
art critic, independent business consultant, coach, studies psychoanalysis and business consulting at the Higher School of Economics.
Plot
A naked woman, obviously not in the role of a goddess or any other mythical entity, shamelessly looks the viewer in the eye. The second woman, also not particularly hiding her nakedness, is busy bathing. She looks disproportionately large compared to the figures in the foreground. Gentlemen, dressed too stiff for a picnic, argue hotly.
Nature seems decorative, as if Manet wrote not in the open air (as he assured everyone), but sitting in the studio. Carelessness in the elaboration of details, rough strokes, shadows laid out by the devil - for such mistakes fans of academism called Manet a painter and a dropout.
The Bar at the Folies Bergère (1882). One of the most scandalous and last painting by Manet
The plot is taken, I think, from life. Having returned one time from Argenteuil, a suburb of Paris - there, by the way, Claude Monet lived and worked for many years - the artist set to work. The Sunday picnic took place, perhaps even with the model Victorina Meuran, who is credited with not only a creative connection with the painter. At the time of this writing, they are already in a break - Manet married another, his music teacher Suzanne Leenhoff. By the way, his wife's brother Ferdinand is depicted with portrait accuracy in this picture. Like the artist's brother, Gustav.
In the lower left corner - a frog, and not far from it - cherries. Prostitutes were called frogs, and cherries were a symbol of voluptuousness. Women are like food, which men dispose of as they please.
Context
Manet hoped that the painting would be taken to the Paris Salon. But, naturally, this did not happen. Even Napoleon III - a connoisseur and provocateur in art, who invited everyone who was not accepted to the exhibition to exhibit at the Salon of the Outcast - and he turned his back on Breakfast on the Grass.
"The couple Mane"(1860). The painting that the artist's father was proud of
“Some naked street girl, - wrote the critic Louis Etienne, - shamelessly settled between two dandies in ties and city suits. They look like schoolchildren on vacation, imitating the revelry of adults, and I try in vain to understand what is the meaning of this obscene riddle.
The audience did not understand how men and naked women could be painted so rudely and defiantly on a canvas, the dimensions of which are more suitable for battle scenes. The lack of expression of volume in Manet's paintings is the result of his passion for Japanese art. Admiring the technique of artists from the Land of the Rising Sun, Manet refused to elaborate on color and light nuances. As with the prints, the artist concentrated on lines and contours. Contemporaries called his paintings unfinished, careless and artless.
The fate of the artist
Manet was born into a respectable family. His father worked in the Ministry of Justice, his mother was the daughter of a French diplomat. It is not difficult to imagine what was expected from the child. But little Eduard categorically did not want to study, even painting, to which he had been drawn from childhood. The child was frightened by the rules, traditions, academicism.
In search of himself, he sailed to Brazil, traveled across Europe, studying the works of the old masters. Early paintings gave him the image of a budding artist. But both critics and buyers quickly turned away from him. The provocative paintings, which they refused to exhibit, were a slap in the face to taste.
I must say that in his personal life, Manet adhered to free morals. He played novels with models in the presence of a bride, in his youth he fell ill with syphilis, the complications of which brought him to the grave.
Edouard Manet
Manet, by the way, was one of the first adherents of the sketch. Walking in the Tuileries, where Parisian bohemians gathered on weekends, the artist quickly recorded scenes from life. Contemporaries did not perceive this as painting, believing that such drawings are suitable only for illustrations in magazines and reports.
Together with Pissarro, Cézanne, Monet, Renoir, Degas, they created a community of progressive painters, which is conventionally called the Batignol school. They did not want to follow the canons of official art and sought to find new, fresh forms, ways of transferring the light environment, the air that envelops objects. They tried to get as close as possible to how a person sees this or that object. Some semblance of Manet's recognition appeared in the 1890s. His paintings began to be acquired in private and public collections. However, by that time the artist was no longer alive.
French impressionist took revenge on abandoned mistress
An open-air meal is one of the most popular subjects in world painting. He's so May! Lunches on the grass are especially loved by artists - a trend set by the French impressionists Edouard MANET and Claude MONET. Recognition did not come to the masters immediately. It was especially difficult for the first, Edward. But he himself is good: every picture is a scandal and a provocation.
Some naked street girl shamelessly settled herself between two dandies in ties and city suits. They look like schoolchildren on vacation, imitating the binges of adults, and I am trying in vain to understand what is the meaning of this obscene riddle, - wrote one of the critics, when the canvas under the innocent title "Breakfast on the Grass" was first put on public display in 1863 ...
Lesbian on the background of a couple of asexuals
Edouard Manet was in a hurry to finish his work for the opening of the Paris Salon. The picture came out very impressive: 2.5 by 2 meters.But the jury turned her down. Together with 3000 paintings by other authors who have not passed censorship, Manet's creation was shown at the exhibition, which was nicknamed the Salon of the Outcast. Even in this context, many considered Manet's creation a mockery of public morality. The artist seemed to tease the audience with oddities and inconsistencies.
By the illogical nature of the painting, the artist said that there are topics much more important than generally accepted ones - such as sexuality or inequality between men and women. The figure of a naked lady looks too bright. The woman looks defiantly directly at the viewer. At the same time, men do not look either at her or at the viewer, and in this one reads the absence of sexuality. There is evidence that the Meuran Quiz was gay. Perhaps the artist tried to touch upon the topic of forbidden sexuality, condemned by society, - the art critic notes Maria Revyakina.
Interpretation of a theme from Claude MONET (1866). In the role of all the women on the canvas - the painter's bride Camille DONSIER Cut into pieces
Manet's painting more than once inspired artists of the 19th century and later to create their own pictorial interpretations. In 1865, Edward's friend, 25 Claude Monet, made sketches for the huge picture he had conceived - 6 by 4.6 meters -. There was no nudity on her - only elegant ladies under umbrellas and men in dress coats. Claude was interested in studying the lighting in the forest - he painted near Paris.
Leaving for the capital, the artist left his Breakfast on the Grass on bail to the owner of the hotel where he lived. And he threw the canvas into the basement, where it almost rotted. Having bought the painting six years later, Monet cut it into pieces, throwing out the pieces covered with mold.
In 1869 and in 1876 - 1877 he wrote his "breakfasts on the grass" Paul Cezanne... Later, he connects to the embodiment of a common plot Pablo Picasso- he has a dozen fantasies on the same topic. The topic of outdoor breakfasts did not go unnoticed by other, less eminent authors. True, most of the "masterpieces" that emerged from under their brush resemble the original source very vaguely.
LIFEHACK. To remember in which case the names of Manet and Monet are written with "a", and in which with "o", remember the name of the artist. What letter is there, the same will be in the surname: Edouard Manet, Claude Monet.
Where to look
- "Breakfast on the Grass" by Edouard Manet is kept in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, and a sketch for it is in the Courtauld Gallery in London.
- Remaining fragments of Claude Monet's work can also be seen at the Musée d'Orsay. A reduced version of the picture - in the State Museum of Fine Arts named after Pushkin in Moscow.