Often considered the first truly modern painting, Édouard Manet's The Luncheon on the Grass shocked audiences as much as it revolutionised art. By presenting a seemingly everyday scene on a grand scale typically reserved for historical or mythological subjects, Manet deliberately rejected classical traditions to pave the way for Modernism. This bold departure from convention not only outraged critics and the public alike but also set the stage for a new direction in the history of art.
Who Was Édouard Manet?
Édouard Manet (1832–1883) was born into an affluent Parisian family and was initially expected to follow a conventional career path in law. However, he defied these expectations and chose to pursue painting, spurred on by the encouragement of his uncle. Manet’s early formal training was under the academic painter Thomas Couture between 1850 and 1856, but his true education came from studying the Old Masters in the Louvre and travelling across Europe. He visited Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, where he absorbed the works of influential artists such as Frans Hals, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco Goya. These experiences profoundly shaped his style, which merged the realism of these earlier artists with a radical approach to subject matter and technique.
Although influenced initially by Realist painter Gustave Courbet, Manet soon distanced himself from traditional Realism, creating works like Olympia and The Luncheon on the Grass in 1863. While Manet identified as a Realist, his innovations in both content and technique saw him regarded as the father of Modernism and an inspiration to the Impressionists. Throughout his career, he maintained close friendships with key Impressionist figures, such as Claude Monet and Edgar Degas, yet he was often at odds with critics, who were shocked by his unorthodox approach. Despite public ridicule, Manet found support among some of the era’s most progressive thinkers, including the novelist Émile Zola and the poet Charles Baudelaire. Today, his body of work is seen as a critical turning point in the evolution of modern art.
The Scandal of The Luncheon on the Grass
When The Luncheon on the Grass was rejected by the 1863 Salon, it was instead shown at the Salon des Refusés, an exhibition for works denied entry into the official showcase. Far from fading into obscurity, the painting became the centre of a public scandal. To contemporary audiences, it might not be immediately obvious why the work caused such a stir, but for viewers in the 19th century, the shock was palpable.
The composition depicts four figures enjoying a picnic in an outdoor setting: two fully clothed men and two women, one of whom is nude and seated between them, while the other is bathing in a pool in the background. The calm, unperturbed gaze of the naked woman contrasts sharply with the indifference of the men, who seem engaged in a conversation that excludes her. The men, dressed as students or fashionable flâneurs, add to the confusion of the scene by being seemingly oblivious to the woman’s state of undress. To an audience of 1863, this was not merely a puzzling juxtaposition but a provocative challenge to established norms. It was not the nudity itself that was shocking—nudes had long been a staple of classical art—but rather the lack of allegorical or mythological context to justify it.
For audiences at the time, the presence of a nude woman in an apparently contemporary setting suggested a more risqué interpretation: her nudity, combined with the men's casual attire, implied she might be a prostitute, especially given the association of the park setting with places like the Bois de Boulogne, a notorious meeting place for such exchanges. This contemporary realism, presented in a monumental format usually reserved for grand historical scenes, was what made the painting scandalous.
Manet’s Inspirations for The Luncheon on the Grass
Manet drew inspiration from older works of art but infused them with modern meaning. The composition of The Luncheon on the Grass is often said to have been influenced by two specific 16th-century Italian paintings. One was Pastoral Concert by Titian, in which clothed men and naked women similarly share a rustic landscape, and the other was The Judgement of Paris, a mythological scene in which goddesses recline in poses reminiscent of the figures in Manet’s painting.
Despite these classical references, Manet deliberately subverted expectations. Unlike the idealised, harmonious settings of Renaissance art, his painting is firmly grounded in the present. The nude woman, far from being an ethereal or divine figure, is depicted with a frank realism that suggests she is a part of everyday life rather than a symbol of myth or allegory. This starkly contrasts with the art of the time, which demanded that nudes be elevated by a noble narrative. Manet’s refusal to idealise or romanticise his subjects was a bold statement that sought to modernise art itself.
Pastoral Concert by Titian
Manet’s Rejection of Classical Conventions
One of the most controversial aspects of The Luncheon on the Grass was its scale. At 208 cm by 264.5 cm, the painting’s monumental dimensions were typically reserved for history paintings or grand allegorical works, never for scenes of everyday life. By choosing such a large canvas for a seemingly trivial subject—a picnic—Manet broke one of the fundamental rules of academic painting. He compounded this rejection of convention with his distinctive technique. Rather than creating the illusion of depth through smooth transitions of light and shadow, as was the norm, Manet employed a flatness that emphasised the two-dimensionality of the canvas. His loose brushwork, coupled with abrupt contrasts between light and dark, gave the painting a raw, unfinished quality that defied the polished smoothness of academic art.
Another key element in this rejection of traditional norms is the handling of perspective. In classical painting, figures in the background are typically smaller to convey distance. However, in The Luncheon on the Grass, the woman bathing in the background is almost the same size as the figures in the foreground, further enhancing the painting’s flatness and disorienting the viewer’s sense of space. These deliberate choices drew attention to the surface of the painting itself, a technique that would later become central to modernist art.
Manet and the Birth of Modernism
Manet is often hailed as the pioneer of Modernism, and his approach to painting laid the groundwork for the movements that followed. Art critic Clement Greenberg argued that the essence of modernism in art lies in its ability to critique its own medium. For Greenberg, painting's most unique characteristic was its flatness—the fact that a painting is, ultimately, a two-dimensional surface. By eschewing the illusion of depth and focusing on the flatness of the canvas, Manet turned painting into a self-reflective act, one that questioned its own boundaries and possibilities.
Through his rejection of classical ideals of representation, Manet paved the way for the Impressionists, who would take his innovations even further. His loose brushstrokes, unconventional use of colour, and emphasis on the immediacy of the moment became hallmarks of the Impressionist movement. While Manet himself never fully identified with the group, his influence on figures like Claude Monet and Edgar Degas was profound, and his defiance of traditional standards is considered a defining moment in the evolution of modern art.
The Legacy of The Luncheon on the Grass
Today, The Luncheon on the Grass is regarded as a cornerstone in the history of art, a painting that boldly challenged the artistic conventions of its time. Its controversial subject matter and unconventional technique made it a turning point, opening the door for future generations of artists to explore new, uncharted territories in art. The work is now housed in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, where it continues to attract art lovers and scholars alike, a testament to its enduring significance.
The painting not only questioned the societal norms of its era but also expanded the possibilities of what art could be. It shattered the notion that art had to represent lofty ideals or heroic figures, instead allowing for the depiction of ordinary people and contemporary life. In doing so, The Luncheon on the Grass helped to redefine the role of art in society and its capacity for social and aesthetic critique.
In essence, Manet’s The Luncheon on the Grass did more than scandalise—it revolutionised. By breaking free from the constraints of classical art, Manet set the stage for a new artistic era, one in which the boundaries of art were constantly questioned and expanded, a legacy that continues to resonate in the art world today.