The breakfast on the lawn that shocked the Parisian bourgeoisie

When the painting “Breakfast on the Grass” was exhibited at the “Salon des Rejects” exhibition, the French were shocked. The men quickly moved their wives away from the painting and returned to view it again with the intention of laughing and mocking it. The painting was done by Edouard Manet, who is now considered one of the most well-known French artists, an artist who contributed greatly to the creation of modern art, but in the eyes of the French of his time he was considered a rebel.

19th century academic painting

In 1863, the most important art exhibition in Paris was called the “Salon Exhibition.” It was the official art exhibition initiated by the Academy of Arts and sponsored by the government. It was held at the Palais The Louvre in Paris, and was the only one that was then public and open to the general public. The works displayed in the exhibition were selected by forty judges, some of whom were appointed by the government, so their decisions reflected the will of the government and dictated the style of art in France and to a large extent throughout Europe. The judges chose to display works on religious, historical, mythological, landscapes and portraits in the “Salon”. For the visitors to the exhibition, mainly government officials and the bourgeoisie, it was a kind of show. They came to see and be seen and knew that a painting they would purchase at the “Salon exhibition” was a safe investment.

Every artist who wanted to be appreciated dreamed of exhibiting in this exhibition. At a time when photography was just being invented, newspapers had only a few black and white illustrations, private galleries barely existed, and museums only exhibited works from the past, this was a wonderful opportunity for them to be exposed to a large audience and become famous. An example of the popular and official artistic taste of the period is Alexandre Cabanel’s painting “The Birth of Venus.” A painting that was a great success at the “Salon Exhibition” in 1863, and was immediately purchased by Napoleon III for his personal collection.

At art school, they argued that learning to draw nudes from life was an important step in training, but it was acceptable to paint female nudes only when they were presented with the excuse that the woman was a mythological, allegorical, or oriental figure, thus presenting an ideal body without too much harm to public morality. Cabanel, like many artists, used the subject as an excuse to depict a naked woman but in a way that would make the nude look decent enough for the people of his time.

Cabanel was so highly regarded that he was chosen to be one of the judges of the Salon and was one of the people who prevented Manet and other painters from exhibiting their paintings at the Salon of 1863. That year, the Salon judges rejected so many works that Napoleon III decided to intervene and opened a parallel exhibition called the Salon of the Rejected. Manet’s painting “Breakfast on the Grass” was displayed at this exhibition. The painting became the centerpiece of the exhibition and caused a great stir.

Breakfast on the lawn

The painting shows several figures having a picnic inBoulogne Forest which was one of the popular places of entertainment at the time. In the center are two neatly dressed men, in the attire typical of the upper bourgeoisie. The man on the right was based on his brother Gustav, the man on the left was based on the sculptor and his future brother-in-law Ferdinand Linhoff. Next to them sits Victorine Moreau, who was his favorite model, who is shown as a naked woman looking towards the viewer.

In the background, another woman, dressed only in her white jumpsuit, wades in the cold waters of the Seine River. In the foreground, one of the women's blue dress and straw hat, a picnic basket, and the remains of the picnic: cherries, brioche buns, which were then considered an expensive and gourmet food, and an empty glass bottle, they had already drunk everything.

Manet was convinced that viewers would like the painting because it was based on Giorgona's painting "The Country Concert," which was then in the Louvre, and in it too we see an ideal scene in a beautiful rural landscape with two clothed men and two naked women, who are mythological muses.

The painting also resembles Raphael's, which Manet saw through a copy then in the Louvre, which depicts the mythological story of "The Trial of Paris"Where in the lower right corner are two river gods and a nymph."

But the visitors to the “Salon des Rejects” were appalled. The painting created a media uproar and much opposition: Napoleon III and his wife, who visited the exhibition, said it was an unprecedented attack on modesty, and the rest claimed they had never seen such an indecent painting. They laughed, were angry, protested, and were offended.

So what so shocked the Parisians about the painting “Breakfast on the Grass”?

Viewers claimed that the discarded food showed the contempt of the bourgeois class, and in addition, Manet did not try to hide the brushstrokes. The painting even looked unfinished in some parts, and he painted the women in bright white, which created a feeling of strong and unnatural lighting, which to people of the time seemed blinding and flattened the figures.

Manet painted an everyday subject, a picnic in the open air, on a large canvas, usually reserved for historical, religious and mythological subjects. These are not ideal figures but figures of Parisian vacationers, who might be encountered on the streets of Paris. For the first time, female nudes were painted in an everyday context. In Giorgione, the figures are mythological muses, so their nudity is pure, unrealistic and not provocative, and here she is a real woman. Although there is no nipple or hair visible, her body is somewhat robust, she is a modern Parisian who has undressed on a hot summer day. Manet claimed that she was looking at the viewer calmly, but viewers claimed that her expression was impudent and shameless, that her gaze was direct and inviting, and that she knew she was being watched. This knowledge puts the viewer in an uncomfortable position of peeking.

What bothered viewers the most was the fact that the men in the painting did not address the nudity of the lady next to them or her friend bathing behind them. This lack of attention, combined with the fact that they were clothed in the middle of a clearing, only heightened the viewer's sense of the painting's blatant eroticism, and made them understand that it was an allusion to questionable entertainment: two Parisian women spending time with their lovers. The description evoked thoughts of sex, and sex in 1863 was taboo. Sexual intercourse was only allowed in the bedroom of a married couple or behind closed doors. The painting violated the laws of decency and therefore violated one of the important laws of bourgeois society.

It is difficult to define what the painting is really about, and that is part of the point. One interpretation of the painting is that it depicts the prostitution that was rampant at the time in the Bois de Boulogne, a large park on the western outskirts of Paris. This prostitution was well-known in Paris, but the subject was considered taboo and not a suitable subject for painting. Manet's real intention was to quote from the art of the past in order to challenge it, to rebel. He wanted to show that one did not have to paint a perfect ideal of beauty according to the rules of the Academy, to shock the audience by showing his acquaintances in everyday leisure activities, to depict the life of the new urban man. Manet made a clear statement here that he was the one who determined what his art would look like.

Edouard Manet moves between revolutionism and bourgeoisie

Manet was very disappointed by the public reaction. Although the scandal made him famous, Manet came from a wealthy and well-connected bourgeois family. His father was a successful lawyer. His brother Gustave, who modeled for one of the characters in the painting, became a lawyer, a member of the Paris city council, and inspector general of prisons.

Manet's father agreed that he should study painting only after he had failed the entrance exams for the navy twice. In the bourgeois circle to which the family belonged, a career as an artist was seen as synonymous with social inferiority, "poor as an artist" was a common phrase. Manet studied for several years in the studio of Thomas Couture, one of the most important academic artists of the period. But later he began to think that an artist should paint what he saw and the world of his time, as he did in this painting.

Manet, who never compromised in his art, suffered in his private life. To avoid scandal, he always dressed formally in a black suit, with gloves, and was accompanied by a dog, which at the time was a status symbol of high class. He respected the conventions of his time so much that for 13 years he hid his mistress, the Dutch piano teacher Suzanne Linhoff, in a small apartment in Paris. It was only in 1863, the year he painted this painting and after the death of his father, that Manet decided to marry Suzanne. He never recognized his son, born of their love affair: he always presented him as his wife's younger brother. This was in contrast to the boldness he displayed in his art.
There were no buyers for Manet's paintings, public taste remained conservative. The bourgeoisie shied away from any risk and innovation in the field of art, buyers did not want a true depiction of reality but ideal and sweet paintings. Fortunately for Manet, the money he inherited from his father allowed him to express his opinions and protests without fearing for his livelihood.

Edouard Manet died at the age of 51, after contracting syphilis and rheumatism. The painting, which caused a scandal at the time, became one of the most well-known and beloved paintings in the history of art, and one of the forerunners of modern art, so it is not at all surprising that it is today displayed at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and has become a source of inspiration for many artists.

Did you like the article? Want to read more?

• If you are interested in reading more about El Mana, I highly recommend reading Dr. Orna Lieberman’s article Telling about his relationship with the painter Berthe Morisot.
• If you decide to visit Paris and be impressed by Manet's paintings, it is highly recommended. Buy a ticket to the Musée d'Orsay in advance And save you standing in line.