Italy would draw his attention to the lighting work of Caravaggio, for example. Manet himself was intrigued by art history, well beyond just as a way of improving his own work. 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. 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. 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. The artistic developments made by Manet were not always universally appreciated, academics can sometimes be more old-fashioned in their preferences. Published on J/ Updated on October 14, 2023Įmail: / Phone: +44 7429 011000 Edouard Manet paintings formed important contributions to the rise of French impressionism. Beeny says that in practically every painting Manet made of Meurent, he paints her looking directly out at the viewer, with that indiscernible stare.Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience No fine clothes for her then - in those paintings she was in the nude, and, as always, enigmatic.

She picnicked with top-hatted men in The Luncheon on the Grass. She was a prostitute, supine on a sofa, in Olympia. Years earlier, in her teens, Victorine Meurent posed for some of Manet's most revolutionary pictures.

'We can read whatever we want to into that look, and that's what made her such an amazing model and muse for Manet,' Beeny says. resignation? Annoyance? Boredom? 'How long do I have to sit here while this kid stares at the steam!?' Who is this nattily dressed lady? What is her relationship to the girl beside her? Sisters? Aunt and niece? Mother and child? Beeny suspects the older woman is a governess. It's 'a specific style of blue dress that was fashionable through the summer of 1872,' Beeny explains. Sitting next to the child, facing us, with a book and a small dog in her lap, is a young woman in an up-to-the minute outfit. 'We can read whatever we want to into that look, and that's what made her such an amazing model and muse for Manet.'Įmily Beeny on Manet's model, Victorine Meurent It's a large canvas - two figures - a young woman and a little girl, perhaps 6 or 7 - in front of the vertical wrought iron bars of a fence. The Norton Simon Museum has The Railway on view for the first time on the West Coast. But these two - The Railway, on loan from Washington's National Gallery of Art, and Spring, which is worth about $65 million - are new in town and getting the star treatment. Several museums in the area have Manets in their permanent collections. Two LA museums are now featuring two major Manet works. Not exactly an Impressionist, Manet was revolutionary enough for the Impressionists to make him their hero. It's the 19th century French painter Edouard Manet. It is on loan from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.Ī major star who has absolutely nothing do to with movies is having his day in Los Angeles right now. Edouard Manet's 1873 oil on canvas, The Railway, is on view at the Norton Simon Museum in Los Angeles until March 2.

Is olympia by edouard manet art