Luncheon on the Grass and Olympia

In his artwork, Eduardo Manet created a link between realism and impression. He regarded himself as a realism artist and classified his work as honest (Bass, 2014). His personal life was so contentious that he depicted it in his artwork. His darkly toned paintings were some of the most derided and divisive works produced at the time, in the middle of the 19th century. He is best known for his paintings of Olympia and the luncheon on the lawn. Luncheon on the grass and Olympia exhibited the aspects contemporary setting and borrowed composition from Raphael's judgement in Paris engraving. Eduardo Manet used the pastoral concert, a painting done by Titian attributed at the time of Giorgione for his inspiration, the Spanish classicists Diego Velazquez, the Dutch portraitist Frans Hals, and the Romantic Goya.



Eduardo Manet's Luncheon on the Grass



Eduardo Manet wanted to show the luncheon on the grass in front of the jury of salon in Paris. However, he ended up showing it in Paris to the salon de refuses, an exhibition ordered by the emperor of France, Napoleon III. The painting ended up in the alternative venue after the two third harsh jury in salon claiming that the nudity and nakedness in the painting did not conform to the convention as it elicited prostitution in Paris rejected it. The public was filled with curiosity and that drew a large number of people during the exhibition. Even though most of the people criticized this artwork, some praised it such as Emile Zola who was a writer. The painting entered the highest echelon of official taste.



The Controversy Surrounding Luncheon on the Grass



The contemporary setting of luncheon on the grass elicited controversy because of nudity and nakedness in Eduardo Manet artworks. This was expressed by the presence of a nude woman sitted with two fully dressed men in a rural setup. Apparently, the gaze she made to the viewers did not disturb her. Moreover, the two men did not seem to be bothered by the nudity of the women amongst their company. It was also considered an affront to the time because his figures in the paint were familiar models. It was also considered controversial because it depicted the rampant prostitution in Paris that was unethical. Eduardo Manet received a mixed critical reaction from the general public and art critics in Paris because both paintings done by Eduardo Manet elicited controversies.



The Influence of Charles Baudelaire



Charles Baudelaire paved the way for the expression of ideas that were seen as being unethical. He also suggested to Eduardo Manet to paint his earlier artwork to use canvas in music in the Tuileries garden. From which he learnt to assemble the whole of Paris of the second empire (Ibsen, 2006).



A Challenge to Traditional Academic Paintings



The presence of nude and naked women in both artworks posed a challenge to old ideas of academic paintings that promoted decency. The painter's refusal to conform to the convention that required the conservation of traditional values. The boosting of the work to authority teaching was also lost. The initiation of a new freedom from traditional subjects and mode of representation paved way for modern artistry, and this eliminated the old ideas of academic painting by loss of intellectual element combined with a set of fixed aesthetics. The old ideas of academic paintings discourage nudity and nakedness because it illustrated the realism of the subject matter.



Works Cited



Bass, J., 2014. Edouard Manet and “Civil War”. Art journal.



Ibsen, K., 2006. Spectacle and Spectator in Édouard Manet’s Execution of Maximilian. Oxford art journal.

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