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Close-up photograph of artist Édouard Manet. photo by Paul Nadar –

Top 10 Sensational Facts about Édouard Manet

The practice of putting paint, pigment, colour, or another medium to a solid surface (called the “matrix” or “support”) is known as painting. The medium is often applied to the base with a brush, but knives, sponges, and airbrushes can also be employed.

Painting in art refers to both the act and the result of the action (the final work is called “a painting”). Paintings are supported by surfaces such as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, pottery, leaf, copper, and concrete, and the painting may integrate a variety of different materials such as sand, clay, paper, plaster, gold leaf, and even whole objects.

French artists throughout time have marked Impressionism as an art movement and set a new paradigm in painting. One such renown painter is Édouard Manet. He was a French modernist painter.

He was born on January 23, 1832, in Â鶹APP, to a wealthy and well-connected family, in the ancestral hôtel particulier (mansion) on the Rue des Petits Augustins (now Rue Bonaparte).

Édouard was the son of Auguste Manet, the chief of personnel at the Ministry of Justice, and Eugénie-Désirée Fournier. Here are the top 10 sensational facts about him.

1. Édouard Manet was born into a wealthy family

Édouard Manet was born into a rich and intelligent family. His grandfather, Clement Manet, was a landowner who built dams. The artist’s father, Auguste Manet, was educated as a lawyer and worked as head of the Department in the Ministry of justice of France, and was an adviser at the court.

Mother, Eugenie-Desiree Fournier, was from an intelligent family. Her father, Jose-Antoine-Nemo Fournier, was Consul in Gothenburg, and her godfather was king Charles XIII of Sweden.

2. Édouard wasn’t supposed to become an artist

Musée du Louvre photo by Rutger van der Maar –

Manet’s father wanted his son to join the navy, so he travelled to Rio de Janeiro in 1848 on a training ship. He came to Â鶹APP to become an artist after failing the navy training school entrance exam.

He studied there under the supervision of French teacher Thomas Couture (1815–1879). During his apprenticeship, Manet spent endless hours at the Musée du Louvre, attempting to learn from the Old Masters by copying their work.

3. His uncle contributed to his passion for painting

He was encouraged by his uncle Edmond Fournier to pursue painting and so was taken to the Louvre. In 1945, Manet enrolled in a painting course at his uncle’s advice where he came to know Antonin Proust, who became the future minister of Fine Arts and later on they both became lifelong friends.

His uncle Fournier, who was interested in art, helped him with this hobby and paid for additional drawing lessons for his nephew with his own money.

4. Édouard was fascinated by Spanish culture

Self-portrait of the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) photo by Diego Velázquez –

Manet adored painting Spanish subjects and had a great time doing it. He provided his models’ with Spanish props and outfitted them in Andalusian attire.

Manet left for Spain in August 1865 to escape the barrage of hostile criticism from Â鶹APPian art critics.

He had a strong respect for Spanish art and culture before arriving in Spain, especially that of Francisco Goya (1746–1828) and the Spanish master Diego Velázquez (1599–1660), which was stoked by his time spent imitating Velázquez’s work at the Louvre.

5. He travelled around the world to broaden his artistic skills

To further broaden his knowledge and artistic skills, Manet travelled to several parts of the world including Italy, the Netherlands and Germany. His adventures during his trips have impacted his concept of various art forms and styles.

6. Édouard played a key role in the shift from Realism to Impressionism

He played a key role in the shift from Realism to Impressionism. During his apprenticeship, Manet spent endless hours at the Musée du Louvre, attempting to learn from the Old Masters by copying their work. He finally founded his studio in 1856.

In his early years, Manet’s technique leaned toward a dismal realism with loose brushstrokes, adopting topical topics like beggars, bullfights, and people in cafés. However, in his later works, he experimented with other subjects including still lifes and landscapes.

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement distinguished by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, an emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often emphasizing the effects of time), ordinary subject matter, unusual visual angles, and the inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience.

7. Some of his art pieces were quite divisive

Edouard Manet – Luncheon on the Grass – Google Art Project photo by Google Cultural Institute –

Some of his art pieces were quite divisive. Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l’herbe), Manet’s first significant contentious work, was rejected by the Salon jury in 1863.

Over half of the submissions were rejected that year by the jury, which was brutal. As a result, Le déjeuner sur l’herbe made its premiere at the rival exhibition known as the Salon des Refusés (Salon of the Rejected), which was started by Emperor Napoleon III.

The public was extremely concerned by the banal context in which such an event occurred and responded to the painting with both harsh criticism and laughter. At the time, sex workers would often meet with their clients in French parks, a practice that was both common and little acknowledged.

 Manet had a fine sense of humour. The artist depicted a picnic in the woods for four people in this painting. The two women, however, are both nude, with one wearing a provocative garment while the other is completely dressed.

Manet skillfully combined the three art forms of still life, landscape, and portraiture in one piece of work. Some art historians think the striking woman in the nude is Victorine Meurent, who may have been Manet’s favourite model and regularly appeared in his works, including the well-known Olympia.

8. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life

Edouard Manet – Olympia – Google Art Project 2 photo by Google Art Project –

Édouard Manet was a French painter known for his The Luncheon on the Grass and Olympia. During the transformation of art into realism and impressionism, he was one of the first 19th-century painters to depict everyday scenes and the modern life of people.

9. Manet painted his wife in “The Reading”

Following the passing of his father in 1862, Manet wed Suzanne Leenhoff in a Protestant church the following year. Leenhoff was a piano instructor from the Netherlands who was two years Manet’s senior, and they had been dating for about ten years.

Manet’s father, Auguste, had initially hired Leenhoff to teach piano to Manet and his younger brother. She might have also served as Auguste’s mistress. Leenhoff gave birth to Leon Koella Leenhoff out of wedlock in 1852. Among other works, Manet depicted his wife in” The Reading”.

10. He received Légion d’honneur from the French Government

He received a special award from the French Government, which was the Légion d’honneur. It was one of the highest forms of recognition that he has received throughout his life.

The National Order of the Legion of Honour (Légion d’honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour (Ordre royal de la Légion d’honneur), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil.

Established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, it has been retained (and slightly altered) by all later French governments and régimes.