Edouard Manet

Edouard Manet paintings formed important contributions to the rise of French impressionism.

The artistic developments made by Manet were not always universally appreciated, academics can sometimes be more old-fashioned in their preferences. Artist Manet was able to sway all but the most traditional of art experts over time, with his bold style becoming highly respected through a series of landmark paintings. There were various trips around other significant artistic regions of Europe, such as the Netherlands, Germany and Italy as this painter looked into ways of expanding his ideas. Travel at that time was far more necessary as a learning tool because of the relative difficulty there was in sourcing written information than there is today.

Manet himself was intrigued by art history, well beyond just as a way of improving his own work. Italy would draw his attention to the lighting work of Caravaggio, for example. Despite his appreciation of the Renaissance masters, his own work would initially appeal most to the younger members of French society. His approach appeared new and fresh, with a brushwork which intrigued these forward-thinking art fans. Manet was also an artist who liked to capture modern life for normal citizens. This would draw natural comparisons with the likes of Van Gogh (Potato Eaters) and Edgar Degas (L'Absinthe).

Manet was well respected for his influence on the new art movement of impressionism, which helped to establish France as the world's major art centre at that time. Manet was crucial in helping to develop the transition in France from realism to impressionism which involved adding their own emotions into the painting and taking it further than simply replicating exactly what anyone would see with their own eyes. This new art movement entitled impressionism was crucial in attracting new people into the art world who were attracted by this rise in creativity and expression of colour. There were many influences on the work of Manet, this was an artist who constantly evaluated the work of others from the realms of art history. The most notable were Eugène Delacroix, Francisco Goya, Caravaggio, Gustave Courbet, Titian, Diego Velázquez and Peter Paul Rubens. These classical artists provided a backbone to his own work.

Manet's own legacy is known to have influenced Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Berthe Morisot. Manet paintings came around the middle of the 19th century and there are several works which best summarise his career but there were in truth a whole array of paintings which are worth studying for a variety of reasons. This website includes around 30 of his finest oil paintings, covering different genres, and supplies each with links to where you can buy your own copies if you wish to.

Edouard Manet is well remembered for his cafe scenes which served as useful summaries to historians of life in 19th-century Paris. Much of life centred around the sorts of scenes used by Manet in his paintings and many French painters have chosen to cover the social lives of the French within cafes in their work. Notably, L'Absinthe by Edgar Degas is a great example of this, and just one of many. This website covers Manet paintings in full and also includes good detail on his career as a whole. Impressionism regularly touched on society, and with it's strong French roots, such scenes were inevitable.

Luncheon on the Grass

Luncheon on the Grass, whose original French name was Le déjeuner sur l'herbe, indicates a lot about the studies that the artist had made earlier in his career, with several features which linked him to those who had gone many years before. Luncheon on the Grass features a classic scene of that period with pure minded ladies bathing whilst well to do gentleman work hard to keep their interest.

All of the Manet pictures included within this website have links to where you can buy prints, posters and stretched canvases of the originals from the Art.com Manet gallery. We regularly use this company ourselves for various art products, so are more than happy to recommend them to you. Their Manet gallery incidentally hold around 100 of his paintings and his originals are best served as framed giclee art prints which accurately reproduce the artist's colour choices.

Olympia

Olympia is another major work from this artist and features a nude female figure being cared for by her servant. Manet Olympia reproductions are very common and it rates as one of his most respected paintings from what you will see was a substantial career with considerable success in several different topics, though always within his preferred impressionist style. Edouard Manet was typical of his generation in wishing to paint the rich and famous which added great galmour to his paintings.

The best opportunities for him were busy social scenes with gatherings of the local upper classes and these produced complex and impressive works that included great amounts of detail and interest right across each canvas. Manet himself also enjoyed the status of being their chosen artist to capture each occasion too, and appreciated spending time in their company.

Chez le Pere Lathuille

Chez le Pere Lathuille is another personal scene created by Manet which leaves any viewer with questions about the relationship between the two people captured in the painting and also wondering what exactly they were discussing at the time. Further intrigue is also created by the onlooker whose appearance seems to be far less than friendly, adding possible suspicion to the behaviour of the two main characters.

Manet was not an artist who would choose one genre and stick to it throughout. Besides his impressive cafe scenes there are also many other paintings which touch on war or other political scenes, as with The Execution of Emperor Maximilian, The Barricade (Civil War) and Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama. Such paintings as these helped the artist to establish a large fanbase with the United States which continues today.

List of Famous Edouard Manet Paintings

Please see below for a summarised list of the best Manet paintings that are featured throughout this website.

• Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe
• Olympia
• The Fifer
• Bar at the Folies-Bergère
• The Beach
• At The Cafe
• Gare Saint-Lazare
• Spanish Ballet
• Lilacs in a Vase
• Luncheon in the Studio
• Races at Longchamp
• Old Musician
• The Railway
• Madame Manet at the Piano
• Woman with Parrot
• Waitress
• Plum Brandy
• Portrait of Emile Zola
• The Balcony
• The Conservatory
• The Grand Canal in Venice
• Execution of Emperor Maximilian
• The Reading
• Portrait of Mr and Madame
• The Lemon
• Fruit on a Table
• Flowers in a Crystal Vase
• Dead Toreador
• Moonlight over the Port of Boulogne
• Music in the Tuileries Gardens
• Spanish Singer
• Old Musician
• Mlle. Victorine in the Costume of a Matador
• Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama
• Dead Matador
• The Philosopher
• Young Flautist, or The Fifer
• Woman with Parrot
• Execution of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico
• Portrait of Emile Zola
• Breakfast in the Studio (the Black Jacket)
• The Balcony
• Boating
• Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé
• Nana
• Plum
• In the Conservatory
• House in Rueil
• Garden Path in Rueil
• Carnations and Clematis in a Crystal Vase