Manet & the Impressionists

Main objectives

Manet

• To paint ‘la vie moderne’ or everyday modern life

• Wanted to change the institution of the Academie from the inside out.

The Impressionists

• Also wanted to paint contemporary Parisian everyday scenes.

• Did not seek the approval of the Academy

• Was concerned with capturing light and atmospheric effects

Subject Matter

Manet• Social Parisian scenes

depicting both the bourgeois and working class people

The Impressionists• Social Parisian scenes

depicting both the bourgeois and working class people

Manet – Music in the Tuileries 1862 Renoir – the Moulin de la Gallette 1876

Working class people

Manet ‘The Absinthe Drinker’ 1859 Degas ‘L’Absinthe’ 1876

Manet

• We see that Manet is still interested in painting large narrative paintings. His painting ‘The Execution of Maximilian’ 1869 is an example of this. But unlike those of classical art, he does not try and make war seem idealised and beautiful, instead he uses the painting to comment on the injustices of France’s involvement in Mexico at that time.

‘The Execution of Maximilian’ 1869

The Impressionists

• The Impressionists, on the other hand were more interested in the effects of light on subjects such as landscapes, waterscapes and people.

Monet

Composition

Manet• A lot of Manet’s painting’s

employ central composition.

• It is only later in his career and through his relationship with the Impressionists and Monet in particular that we see the elements of snapshot composition

The Impressionists• Showing the influence of

Japanese prints and some may say photography, Impre4ssionists employed a lot of ‘snapshot’ composition. This is were parts of a person/object are not fully included in the scene. This gives their works a sense of immediacy and intimacy.

Manet – Central Composition Degas – Snapshot composition

Colour & Technique

Manet• Manet following in the

Classical tradition by using a dark palette and lots of high contrast. Off whites, creams and beiges on skin for example are contrasted against dark backgrounds so focus is on the main figures

The Impressionists• The Impressionists shunned the

use of black and were influenced by new developments in science as they realised that there was colour in shadow. The replaced blacks, brown and greys with slabs of unmixed complementary colours which were mixed by the eye of the viewer using optical mixing. The complementary colours produced tones and highlights full of light and life

Manet – Olympia 1863 Monet – Venice paintings 1908

Manet• Manet shocked the

Academy by not using smooth and polished brushwork when compared to Classical art. But the brushwork seems very smooth when we compare it to that of the Impressionists.

The Impressionists• The Impressionists used

thickly laid slabs of colour, often unblended. This is called IMPASTO. Degas in his works in oil pastel begins to create colour linear drawings which used directional markmaking were the colour lines ‘sculpt’ the form.

Changes

• Manet’s palette does begin to lighten later in his career as we see in ‘The Bar at the Folies Bergeres’ in 1881. This is due to the reciprocal influence of the Impressionists and in particular Monet on Manet’s work.

The bar at the Folies Bergers 1881