Édouard Manet was born in Paris in 1832 into a privileged family: His father was a high-ranking civil servant, and his mother’s family was well connected during and after the Napoleonic era. Manet was one of the few art students who could afford to eat and to feed his friends, and to buy proper art equipment.
This, the first exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute devoted exclusively to Manet in many decades, focuses on the transformation of the artist’s style in his later years. Manet’s ground-breaking works of the 1860s had been shaped by his rediscovery of old masters like Velázquez. Yet by the late 1870s, Manet was recognised as an artist of modern life. Certainly he examined historical subjects and historical styles, but in the 1870s he wanted the life that was actually happening in Paris in his own time.
In his mid-40s Manet's health rapidly deteriorated; he suffered severe pain and partial paralysis in his legs. In 1879 the artist began receiving hydrotherapy treatments at a spa, but since he had tertiary syphilis, all water-treatments failed. And as his mobility became increasingly restricted, Manet had to adapt to new methods of painting and to a decreased access to travel. Fortunately he still had his own house and garden to paint in.
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Emilie Ambre as Carmen, 1881
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Left: Jeanne (Spring) 1881 and
right: Méry (Autumn) 1881
The House at Rueil (1882, 93 × 74 cm) was my favourite late work. Manet’s works, many painted for friends, functioned as parting gifts from an artist who knew his death was imminent. Purchased from artist Jean-Baptiste Fauré in Paris straight after Manet died in 1883, this painting made its way through various galleries, arriving in the National Gallery Victoria in 1926. Thank you, NGV, for lending the House at Rueil to Chicago and to The Getty.
Smaller canvases allowed the artist to paint sitting down; water colours and pastels were less exhausting than oils; and he limited his images to a single person or a small still life. Manet’s era of large-scale masterpieces like Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (1862, 208 × 265 cm) and Olympia (1863, 131 × 190 cm) was over. This display is the first to focus on this later era in the artist’s career. In his last years Manet painted many small-scale still lifes of fruits and vegetables eg tiny The Lemon (1880, 14 x 22 cm). In Bunch of Asparagus (1880, 17 x 22 cm), a gleaming white bunch was resting on a bed of lush greenery.
He limited himself to small but delightful floral formats eg Pinks and Clematis in a Crystal Vase (1882, 33 x 25 cm). It was this series of flowers, painted the year before he died, that best caught Manet’s late concept of beauty: roses, peonies, lilacs, and sprays of flowers in crystal vases. Small-scale and intimate, they showed off Manet’s painstaking brushwork and his attention to light and shadow. His contemporaries tended to depict top-heavy flower bouquets in ceramic vases. Manet, by contrast, placed his bouquets in clear and conspicuous crystal vases that were as lovely as the flowers. In Moss Roses in a Vase (1882, 56 x 34 cm), painted in the year before his death, the action was in the shimmering stems in the water inside the vase. His late floral paintings works were fine examples of transparency, showing the reflected light.
And another two of his late paintings were of the young fashionable model-actress Jeanne Demarsy and one of his friend Méry Laurent. Called Jeanne (Spring) 1881 and Méry (Autumn) 1881, the two were single portraits and not busy social scenes. Intended for a series on the four seasons, these two hung at the 1882 Salon, charming and chic. Just as well Manet had plenty of gardens around his studio. Note the blossoms surrounding Jeanne’s head and the flowers decorating her dress.
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Moss roses in a vase, 1882
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Pinks and clematis in a crystal vase, 1882
At that 1882 exhibition, the critics believed the two paintings eclipsed the now far-better-known Bar at the Folies-Bergère (96 cm x 1.3 m), which was also there on view, and offered Manet a great success at his last Salon showing. But I am not sure that was true. Paul Getty Museum didn’t even purchase Jeanne (Spring) until 2014.
In April 1883, the artist’s left foot was amputated because of gangrene, due to complications from tertiary syphilis. He died in Paris and was buried in the Passy Cemetery.
Now in Chicago’s Art Institute where the show runs until 8th Sept 2019, it will then be moving to The Getty from Oct-12th Jan 2020. Manet and Modern Beauty features 90 artworks and chronicles the artist’s painful but productive final years. The show opens with a look at Manet’s work from the 1870s, when he felt a close kinship with the French impressionists, and concludes with his very late, smaller themes.
Conclusion This is the first Chicago Art Institute show solely devoted to the Manet in decades, and the first loan exhibition at the Getty ever. Manet’s late interest in still lifes was in part a result of his own diminished physical capacities. Though his last years were spent in constant pain, often living in temporary homes where he went for rest cures, Manet was still desperate to paint.
House at Rueil, 1882
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This, the first exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute devoted exclusively to Manet in many decades, focuses on the transformation of the artist’s style in his later years. Manet’s ground-breaking works of the 1860s had been shaped by his rediscovery of old masters like Velázquez. Yet by the late 1870s, Manet was recognised as an artist of modern life. Certainly he examined historical subjects and historical styles, but in the 1870s he wanted the life that was actually happening in Paris in his own time.
In his mid-40s Manet's health rapidly deteriorated; he suffered severe pain and partial paralysis in his legs. In 1879 the artist began receiving hydrotherapy treatments at a spa, but since he had tertiary syphilis, all water-treatments failed. And as his mobility became increasingly restricted, Manet had to adapt to new methods of painting and to a decreased access to travel. Fortunately he still had his own house and garden to paint in.
right: Méry (Autumn) 1881
The House at Rueil (1882, 93 × 74 cm) was my favourite late work. Manet’s works, many painted for friends, functioned as parting gifts from an artist who knew his death was imminent. Purchased from artist Jean-Baptiste Fauré in Paris straight after Manet died in 1883, this painting made its way through various galleries, arriving in the National Gallery Victoria in 1926. Thank you, NGV, for lending the House at Rueil to Chicago and to The Getty.
Smaller canvases allowed the artist to paint sitting down; water colours and pastels were less exhausting than oils; and he limited his images to a single person or a small still life. Manet’s era of large-scale masterpieces like Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (1862, 208 × 265 cm) and Olympia (1863, 131 × 190 cm) was over. This display is the first to focus on this later era in the artist’s career. In his last years Manet painted many small-scale still lifes of fruits and vegetables eg tiny The Lemon (1880, 14 x 22 cm). In Bunch of Asparagus (1880, 17 x 22 cm), a gleaming white bunch was resting on a bed of lush greenery.
He limited himself to small but delightful floral formats eg Pinks and Clematis in a Crystal Vase (1882, 33 x 25 cm). It was this series of flowers, painted the year before he died, that best caught Manet’s late concept of beauty: roses, peonies, lilacs, and sprays of flowers in crystal vases. Small-scale and intimate, they showed off Manet’s painstaking brushwork and his attention to light and shadow. His contemporaries tended to depict top-heavy flower bouquets in ceramic vases. Manet, by contrast, placed his bouquets in clear and conspicuous crystal vases that were as lovely as the flowers. In Moss Roses in a Vase (1882, 56 x 34 cm), painted in the year before his death, the action was in the shimmering stems in the water inside the vase. His late floral paintings works were fine examples of transparency, showing the reflected light.
And another two of his late paintings were of the young fashionable model-actress Jeanne Demarsy and one of his friend Méry Laurent. Called Jeanne (Spring) 1881 and Méry (Autumn) 1881, the two were single portraits and not busy social scenes. Intended for a series on the four seasons, these two hung at the 1882 Salon, charming and chic. Just as well Manet had plenty of gardens around his studio. Note the blossoms surrounding Jeanne’s head and the flowers decorating her dress.
Four apples, 1882
At that 1882 exhibition, the critics believed the two paintings eclipsed the now far-better-known Bar at the Folies-Bergère (96 cm x 1.3 m), which was also there on view, and offered Manet a great success at his last Salon showing. But I am not sure that was true. Paul Getty Museum didn’t even purchase Jeanne (Spring) until 2014.
In April 1883, the artist’s left foot was amputated because of gangrene, due to complications from tertiary syphilis. He died in Paris and was buried in the Passy Cemetery.
Now in Chicago’s Art Institute where the show runs until 8th Sept 2019, it will then be moving to The Getty from Oct-12th Jan 2020. Manet and Modern Beauty features 90 artworks and chronicles the artist’s painful but productive final years. The show opens with a look at Manet’s work from the 1870s, when he felt a close kinship with the French impressionists, and concludes with his very late, smaller themes.
Conclusion This is the first Chicago Art Institute show solely devoted to the Manet in decades, and the first loan exhibition at the Getty ever. Manet’s late interest in still lifes was in part a result of his own diminished physical capacities. Though his last years were spent in constant pain, often living in temporary homes where he went for rest cures, Manet was still desperate to paint.
House at Rueil, 1882
