ÉDOUARD MANET (French, 1832-1883) is considered the first modernist painter, his works stirred up great controversy and outrage. Manet thwarted all the conventions of art at the time, and confronted what was considered vulgar and commonplace. He painted everyday people going about their daily lives, with loose brushwork that looked sketchy and incomplete compared to traditional painting styles, insulting the craft of art. He would paint works in one sitting instead of weeks. But most upsettingly and offensively, his subject matter was of people drinking beer and listening to music, flirting; nude women whose eyes met the camera while sitting with fully dressed men; or confrontational prostitutes! At age 51, his foot was amputated from gangrene related to complications of syphilis and rheumatism, and he died eleven days later. At his funeral, Edgar Degas said, “He was greater than we thought.”
See Manet’s model, Victorine Meurent (1844-1927)
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