Discover 5 major paintings by Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet is certainly one of the most prominent representatives of Impressionism. Although he did not always follow the rules of the movement, Manet followed the movement more by the subjects he painted than by his technique. Museum TV invites you to discover 5 major paintings by Edouard Manet.

Le déjeuner sur l'herbe - 1863

By breaking the moral codes of the time, this painting provoked the strongest criticism when it was presented at the Salon des Refusés in 1863. Indeed, the nudity of the woman lying on the grass after a meal with two men under the gaze of a second woman is in deep contradiction with the morals of the time. However, more than 150 years later, Le déjeuner sur l'herbe is certainly one of Manet's best known works.

Olympia - 1963

This nude by Manet is not that of a goddess, but of a contemporary woman. This attracted the wrath of the critics at the time ... Moreover, the bouquet of flowers brought by the maid suggests a gift from a lover. The public understands that it is certainly a courtesan. Her posture on the bed, with her hand on her thigh and her provocative look, reminds the viewer of his or her situation as a voyeur. In other words, Manet has painted what he saw in the purest realist tradition.

Un Bar aux Folies-Bergère - 1882

Certainly Manet's last work before his death, Un Bar aux Folies-Bergère is a painting that perfectly combines the Impressionist and Realist currents. Indeed, Manet painted a woman in front of a bar supposedly at the Folies-Bergère, a famous Parisian cabaret. However, it is a reconstruction recreated in the studio of Manet. The subject is thus realistic with a technique close to impressionism.

Le chemin de fer - 1873

This is the last work of Édouard Manet with his muse Victorine Meurent. A work representing a seated woman and a young girl in front of the gates of a train station. This masterpiece illustrates the modernity of the nineteenth century with a certain mystery in the eyes of the woman. Finally, the latter is certainly reading a book from the "Railway Library" collection that was being developed at the time!

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