Salon des Refuses

Édouard Manet - Luncheon on the Grass - 1862–1863 - Oil on canvas - 208 cm × 265.5 cm (81.9 in × 104.5 in) - Musée d'Orsay, Paris (click photo for larger image)In 1863, the Salon des Refuses, or rather the “exhibition of rejects,” was the first presentation of works that were rejected by the jury of the official Paris Salon. Included in this landmark show was Édouard Manet’s famed painting, Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe, or Luncheon on the Grass. This painting shocked the French public due to the appearance of a female nude, casually seated with two fully-dressed men in a rural setting. The problem, however, wasn’t simply the nudity. If the setting had been historical or mythological, then this would have been fine. But the fact that the figures were contemporary was deemed unacceptable.

As early as the 1830s, Paris art galleries had mounted small-scale, private exhibitions of works rejected by the Salon jurors. The glamorous event of 1863 is the most significant, however, because it was actually sponsored by the French government.

This was a time when the art world was changing. The French Impressionists (inspired, in part, by Manet’s challenges to tradition) would soon emerge, as would the Post-Impressionists. It was the pre-dawn of Modernism.

Manet’s “Olympia” Is Allowed to Leave Paris

Édouard Manet - Olympia - 1863 - 130.5 cm × 190 cm (51.4 in × 74.8 in) - Musée d’Orsay, Paris (click photo for larger image)Édouard Manet (1832-1883) created his Olympia in 1863, and it’s one of the most important paintings of the 19th century. The work has not left Paris since it was given to the French state in 1890...until now.

READ MORE about this highly significant work--and the plan to have it travel abroad.

The $500 Million Gardner Museum Heist: Have You Seen These Paintings?

Édouard Manet - "Chez Tortoni" - Oil on canvas, 26 x 34 cm (click photo for larger image)

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced today that it knows the identity of the thieves who stole 13 works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston more than two decades ago, in what’s widely viewed as the biggest art heist in U.S. history.”

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"Chez Tortoni" (above) by Édouard Manet (1832-1883) is one of the paintings being sought. Manet was one of the great forerunners of Impressionism. By defying the standards and techniques of Academic Classicism--and choosing subjects relevant to his own time (rather than the past) Manet became an innovator.

Toledo Museum of Art Is Exclusive U.s. Venue for Edouard Manet Portraiture Show

Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883), The Monet Family in their Garden at Argenteuil, 1874. Oil on canvas, 61 × 99.7 cm. Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Bequest of Joan Whitney Payson, 1975 (1976.201.14) Photo © 2011 The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. (click photo for larger image)

“An exhibition of portraits by acclaimed French artist Edouard Manet, sometimes referred to as “the father of Impressionism,” opened this fall at the Toledo Museum of Art, the exclusive North American venue for Manet: Portraying Life. Co-organized by TMA and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, the exhibition can be seen until Jan.1, 2013 in Toledo. The exhibition will move to the Royal Academy of Arts for exhibition Jan. 26–April 14, 2013.”

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Manet Sets $33.1 Million Record

View of French Impressionist Edouard Manet's Self Portrait, 1878-1879, which sold at auction at Sotheby's in London, for $33.1 Million Tuesday June 22, 2010. AP Photo/Max Nash.

From ArtDaily.org - 23 June 2010

LONDON (REUTERS).- Sotheby's sold an Edouard Manet self-portrait for 22.4 million pounds ($33.1 million) on Tuesday, a record for the artist but toward the lower end of pre-sale expectations of 20-30 million pounds. The painting, one of only two self-portraits by the artist and the only one in private hands, was the centerpiece of the auctioneer's main impressionist and modern art sale in London this summer.

Edouard Manet broke new ground by defying traditional techniques of representation and by choosing subjects from the events and circumstances of his own time. His Déjeuner sur l’herbe (“Luncheon on the Grass”), exhibited in 1863 at the Salon des Refusés, aroused the hostility of critics and the enthusiasm of the young painters who later formed the nucleus of the Impressionist group. Manet’s debut as a painter met with a critical resistance that did not abate until near the end of his career. Although the success of his memorial exhibition and the eventual critical acceptance of the Impressionists—with whom he was loosely affiliated—raised his profile by the end of the 19th century, it was not until the 20th century that his reputation was secured by art historians and critics. Manet’s disregard for traditional modeling and perspective made a critical break with academic painting’s historical emphasis on illusionism. This flaunting of tradition and the official art establishment paved the way for the revolutionary work of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Manet also influenced the path of much 19th- and 20th-century art through his choice of subject matter. His focus on modern, urban subjects—which he presented in a straightforward, almost detached manner—distinguished him still more from the standards of the Salon, which generally favored narrative and avoided the gritty realities of everyday life. Manet’s daring, unflinching approach to his painting and to the art world assured both him and his work a pivotal place in the history of modern art. Even the recognition he has finally received does not do him justice. He was a remarkable painter.