Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet was a French modernist painter whose masterworks broke with classical academic traditions and paved the way for modern art. Born into an affluent Parisian family, Manet rejected the legal career intended for him to study painting under Thomas Couture.

His revolutionary canvases, notably Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe and Olympia (both 1863), sparked intense public scandal and critical outrage at the Salon des Refusés for their frank depictions of contemporary female nudes and bold, flat brushwork. Although closely aligned with the Impressionist circle—including Monet, Renoir, and Degas—Manet chose never to exhibit in their independent shows, preferring to challenge the official Salon system from within. His final masterpiece, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882), remains one of the most enigmatic and celebrated visual statements of urban modern life.