Edouard Manet Oil Painting Reproductions

Edouard Manet Famous Artist

Learn more about the life of Edouard Manet and discover some interesting facts about his famous Impressionist Movement and Realism Movement paintings.

Who is Edouard Manet?

Edouard Manet is a French Artist, born in Paris in 1832 and dying in 1883. He was an unsuccessful student, failing the entrance exam to Naval College twice. Manet's academic failure made his wealthy parents realize that art was his chosen path. In 1850, he joined the Studio of Thomas Couture to work under his tutelage.

What are the great works of Edouard Manet?

Famous paintings by Edouard Manet depict scenes of modern life in Paris, and his paintings bridge the gap between Realism and Impressionism. As a result, Manet is a central figure in the history of art with the title of "the Father of Modern Art."

The Official Salon rejected the luncheon on the Grass 1862 (Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe), but it has become one of Manet's most acclaimed fine art oil on canvas.

The original Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe painting is under the ownership of the Musee d'Orsay. An earlier version is at the Courtauld Gallery in London.

Plum Brandy c1877, also known as La Prune, is another of Manet's portraits of observation of Paris café life. In 1961 the painting was donated to Washington's National Gallery of Art by The Mellon Foundation.

Edouard Monet Later Paintings

The Luncheon of the Boating Party 1881 is Manet's most iconic painting and one of his most significant oil paintings on canvas. The scene is a social gathering at La Maison Fournaise on the Seine, where Manet was a frequent visitor.

All the subjects in the painting are friends of Manet and his future wife, Aline Charigot, the female to the left of the painting, holding the small dog.

Manet's Spring (le Printemps) 1881 is a portrait of Jeanne deMarsy and exhibited at the 1882 Exhibition of the Paris Salon.

The painting was purchased by the Getty Museum in 2014 for over $65 million. This price exceeded the estimate and set a new record for any Manet painting at that time.

The Bar at the Folies-Bergere 1882 is one of our famous Manet reproductions. Manet regularly frequented The Folies-Bergeres, the infamous music hall and cabaret in Paris at that time.

There is much scholarly speculation about the accuracy of The Bar's perspective at the Folies-Bergere. 

Manet's controversial painting Olympia 1883 is inspired by Titian's Venus of Urbano.

Manet's Olympia met with derision and scorn at the Paris Salon in 1865.  The Salon rejected its thick black lines and visible brushstrokes, challenging the established classical lines of the great masters. Instead, Manet's Olympia painting "Venus" depicts a courtesan whose brazen and direct gaze challenges the viewer.

Manet vs. Monet

Monet and Manet first became acquainted in 1886, but it wasn't until 1874 that they painted together at Grenouillère and Argenteuil. Encouraged by Monet, Manet began painting en plein air. The result is Manet's painting,  Boating, in 1874.  It is an oil painting with a bright color palette; while the female is unidentified, the male figure is Manet's brother-in-law Rudolphe Leenhoff.

Manet's brother, Eugene, married his friend and fellow artist, Berthe Morisot.

Manet died in 1883 after having a foot amputated due to gangrene. However, he left a legacy of over 400 oil paintings and a further 500 works on paper.

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