GUSTAVE COURBET / JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET POWER POINT

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IMPRESSIONISM REVISION POWER POINT

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Renoir

Pierre- Auguste Renoir (1841 -1919)
Renoir was a leading artist in the development of the Impressionist Art movement. He is known as a painter of people and of social life.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in Limogues, France in 1841 into a working class background. When he was four his family moved to Paris where he grew up. At 13 he became an apprentice porcelain painter in a factory in Paris. During these early years he often visited the Louvre to study at first hand the works of the old masters. In particular his favourites were the French painters; Delacroix, Boucher and Fragonard.
In 1862, Renoir joined the art school of Charles Gleyre where he met with fellow students Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Frederic Bazille. Through these new friendships he met with other artists Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet. This group of Artists spent much time together during the 1860’s discussing and sharing their ideas on Art. It was out of this group that Impressionism developed. The first paintings that are attributed to being “Impressionist” in their outlook were painted by Renoir and Monet during the summer of 1869.
Like other Impressionists in the group, Renoir entered his paint
ings at the Salon for their exhibitions but failed to get selected. In 1874 he took part in and was one of the chief organizers of the first Impressionist Exhibition. Renoir continued to be involved in the second and third Impressionists exhibition but he was the first of the Impressionist group to break away from its style of painting and also the first to return to exhibiting his work at the Salon.

La Loge 1874

Two Sisters 1881

Renoir’s work was at its most Impressionistic in style during the 1870’s and early 1880’s. He was very close to Monet both personally and artistically in style and painted with him on several occasions during this period. Monet and Renoir would go outside and paint “plein air” – observing direct from nature. Although Renoir shared Monet’s fascination for the effects of light on water or the landscape, it was people and human interactions that became his chief interest. Most of Renoir’s well regarded paintings were of people, often smiling and enjoying themselves. He loved also to paint children and pretty women and the happy mood of his pieces have often been criticized as being too pretty. To these critics Renoir replied “To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty! There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them.”

Luncheon of the Boating Party (Le déjeuner des canotiers) 1881

During the early years Renoir struggled for acceptance from the establishment and consequently times were difficult financially. He was the only painter of the Impressionists who came from a working class background. Gradually though, over the years, Renoir gained in reputation and his work began to be bought increasingly by collectors. By the end of his life in 1919, Renoir enjoyed a great deal of wealth and fame throughout France and internationally. In the year of his death in 1919, he was able to visit his own paintings hanging in the Louvre beside the old masters whom he so admired.

Bal du moulin de la Galette (Dance at the Moulin de la Galette) 1876
This painting is typical of Renoir in that the subject is of people enjoying themselves. It is also a very typical Impressionist painting in that it is;
1) a scene of everyday life,
2) concerned with light falling on the figures and ground
3) Its a snapshot – photographic like in that a fleeting moment is    captured and figures are cut-off in the frame.

La Bal du Moulin de la Galette ( Dance at the Moulin de la Galette) 1976

Composition
Bal du Moulin de la Galette is a very complex composition in that Renoir manages to arrange numerous people together in one scene. He does this by arranging the figures into three zones;
a foreground containing a group of figures who are mostly seated and who are engaging with each other -to the left a child and her mother sit, the mother is cut-off by the edge of the paining.
)In the middleground the figures appear to be either dancing or gazing out to the right of the pictures a a scene that is cut-off from our view.
In the background, Renoir manages to fit in scores of people who appear very small in the distance but who are dancing or socializing. This composition has been clevely designed by Renoir to keep our eye moving from one scene or zone to another ranging from the fore to the background. Our eyes are unable to settle on one scene.

Composition of Bal du Moulin de la Galette

Light
In Bal du Mouln de la Galette Renoir gives us the impression that the scene before us is taking place on a sunny day beneath the dappled shade of trees. Renoir paints glimpses of sunlight as spots on the figures – as seen most clearly on the figure of the young man in the foreground with his back to us. Renoir also paints dappled shade on the ground appearing as dark spots.
Treatment of paint
Renoir uses very loose brushstrokes in Bal du Moulin de la Galette. This loose treatment gives the impression of movement. In the foreground he paints the details in a more defined and smoother way. As the painting recedes the brushstrokes become looser and the figures are less defined; details like features of the face and jewellery become lost at the back. Renoir paints the rough shapes of hats and dresses to indicate that the blobs of paint and colour are people.

This is a scene from the foreground. You can see Renoir painted details such as eyelids and lashes as well as earrings and necklace details

In the middle-ground Renoir begins to paint in broader strokes where details become lost – the eyes are reduced to being slits, the hands of the woman are painted so loosely the individual fingers are obliterated. Compare this to the foreground details above.

In the background Renoir works very loosely depicting individual figures with just a few brush stokes. We can make out the shapes of hats and dresses but very little else of details. There are barely faces to be seen and no features on the faces.

The Umbrellas (Les Parapluies) 1882-1886
In The Umbrellas, Renoir show us once more how skillful he is at painting large groups of people. This painting depicts a busy street scene in Paris with most of the people using umbrellas. On the left a young woman holds up her skirt to avoid splatters of mud. Behind her a young man seems to want to engage her but she appears unaware of him. On the right a mother glances down at her two daughters, both of whom are fashionably dressed. Behind her is a woman caught in the act of either raising of lowering her umbrella.

The Umbrellas (Les Parapluies) 1881- 1886

This painting shows Renoir’s transition from one style into another. The two girls and their mother on the right are painted in a loose textured style while in contrast the woman on the left and indeed the rest of the piece is painted more smoothly, with modelling and with strong outlines in places – in particular the umbrellas. It is believed that this painting was started by Renoir in 1882 and that he ceased to complete the piece until a number of years had passed during which time he had changed his style from Impressionism to a much more solid manner.
This painting was completed in 1886 and was owned by Sir Hugh Lane. It was bequeathed by him to the National Gallery in London but is regularly exhibited at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin.

Hugh Lane Gallery

The Hugh Lane Gallery is a gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art located in Charlemont House, Parnell Square North, Dublin. It is run by Dublin City Council. “The purpose of the gallery is to promote civic pride and understanding of its collections and to contribute to public discourse on the visual arts” (www.hughlane.ie/about-us; Website of the Hugh Lane Gallery).

The exterior of the Hugh Lane Gallery.

The Collection
The collection of the Hugh Lane Gallery was initially donated by Sir Hugh Lane to the city of Dublin in 1908 and has grown greatly since then through the purchase of Modern and Contemporary artwork by Dublin City Council and through bequeaths and donations to the Gallery from art collectors and artists. The collection consists of over 2,000 artworks which date from the mid 19th Century to the present day including works by international artists such as Monet, Manet and Renoir amongst others and Irish artists which include Jack B Yeats and Harry Clarke. In recent years the gallery received a boost to its collection with two new donations of the “Francis Bacon Studio” and a series of work by the artist Sean Scully.
Hugh Lane (1875 – 1915)
The gallery is named after Sir Hugh Lane, a cork born art collector and dealer who believed that there should be a gallery of Modern Art in Dublin showing the best of International and Irish artists. A Nephew of Lady Gregory, Lane was one of the foremost collector and dealer of Impressionist Art and ran his own gallery in London. Hugh Lane devoted much of his short life to establishing a gallery and a collection of modern and contemporary art worthy of the city of Dublin. In 1915 he died tragically on board the Lusitania enroute to America.
The Building
Originally the Hugh Lane Gallery was located in Clonmell House, Harcourt Street but the gallery moved to its permanent home in the newly refurbished Charlemont House in 1933. It is a Neo – Classical building designed by William Chambers and James Gandon which was built for James Caulfeild the first Earl of Charlemont in 1763-65. In 1933 a purpose built gallery was extended at the back of the building designed by city architect Horace O’Rourke. In 2006 a new wings was designed by architects Gilroy McMahon which increased the exhibition space and enabled facilities for visitors including a Learning Resource Centre, a bookshop and a cafe.
Francis Bacon 1909-1992
Francis Bacon was an Irish-born London based artist known for painting disturbing representations of the human figure. His portraits of people were often grotesquely distorted. When he was 16, Bacon left home in Ireland and travelled to London and onto Berlin and Paris. It was during this period of travel that Bacon discovered the work of Picasso who inspired him to become an artist. On his return to London in 1928 he began painting. It took several years for Bacon to become successful as an artist. In 1944 his triptych “Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion” brought him acclaim from art critics. From then onwards Bacon was regarded as one of the most important international post war artists. During his life Bacon enjoyed a great deal of success as an artist until his death in 1992. In 2013 his “ Three studies of Lucien Freud” set a world record at that time as being the most expensive piece of art selling for 142.4 million US dollars.

Francis Bacon; Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944. Oil and pastel on board, Tate Britain, London.

The Francis Bacon Studio
The studio of artist Francis Bacon is permanently housed in the Hugh Lane Gallery. It was donated to the gallery in 1998 by John Edwards the sole heir of the artist. Originally located in Reece Mews, South Kensington in London, Bacon had worked in that studio from 1961 until his death in 1992. The Hugh Lane Gallery entirely relocated the studio and its contents from London to the gallery in Dublin. A team, led by conservator Mary McGrath and comprised of archaeologists and curators mapped, tagged and packed each of the items, including the dust. The walls, doors floor and ceiling were also removed. Over 7,000 items were found scattered around the studio including paintings, drawings, books, records and an endless array of art materials and equipment. The relocated studio opened to the public in 2001. One can walk around the outside of the studio, look through the open door and peer through the windows. While to observers the studio seems chaotic, to the artist it was a good place to make Art “ I feel at home in this chaos because chaos suggests images to me”.

Francis Bacon Studio

The Francis Bacon studio at the Hugh Lane Gallery provides a unique window into the world of the artist that was Francis Bacon. It revealed much about the practice of painting used by the artist. Although hundreds of used paint tubes and tin of paint were found , there was no artist palatte found there. Instead Bacon seems to have used just about any surface he could find as a substitute – even the walls of the studio were used to mix paint. Several pairs of thick corduroy trousers were found in the studio. Many of these were cut into pieces and used in his paintings. The imprint of this corduroy pattern is to be found in several of Bacon’s paintings. Bacon also used cashmere sweaters, ribbed socks and cotton flannels to similar effect. Several slashed canvases were found also in the studio revealing that Bacon exacted very high standards on his work and regularly destroyed his paintings when they did not meet his high standard.
The Francis Bacon studio is located within a complex at the rear of the Hugh Lane Gallery which is comprised of;
1) An Audio -Visual Room ( Shows a documentary on Francis Bacon)
2) Display cases showing a selection of books found in Bacon’s studio;
3)The reconstructed studio
4)A micro gallery with touch screen terminals (Three units with seating. These show the database of the thousands of objects found in the studio)
5)The Chambers Room displaying three unfinished paintings by the artist.

Floor-plan of Francis Bacon Studio

Francis Bacon; Untitled ( Self Portrait) 1991-1992.
This unfinished self-portrait was found on Bacon’s easel in his Reece Mews studio on his death in April 1992. As is typical of Bacon’s procedure, the background has yet to be laid in. The head of the central figure is the most highly developed part of the canvas. It is unclear how many figures the artist intended to include in this composition. The circular outline may have been drawn using a dustbin lid, The vertical and horizontal lines framing the composition were probably made with a T-square.

Lighting
On entering the complex, it is quite dimly lit and this enables the film screen to be seen clearly. There is a small amount of overhead spotlights. As one approaches the actual studio and one looks at it through the glass it appears to be lit up. This effect is created by a overhead skylight and aswell as enabling us to see the studio more clearly it creates a shrine-like atmosphere to have the space lit up from the darkness of the AV room. The Micro Gallery is also quite dark which is good for viewing the multi-media screens. In this space there are two windows that look into the brighter Bacon Studio. As one enters the Chambers Gallery it becomes more brightly lit by spotlights making it easier to see at first hand the three paintings (uncompleted) by Francis Bacon.
Labelling and Information
As one walks around the complex it is noticeable that there is very little empty wall space; instead the walls are filled with large transferred lines of text. This text consists of a biography of the artists life and quotes directly from Francis Bacon about his practice of painting.
Each of the three paintings on display are clearly labelled with a white card that states the artist name, places and dates of his birth and his death, the title of the piece, details about the bequeath and information on the painting.
The Micro Gallery provides a great deal of information- a full database which catalogues each item found in the studio. This information can be sorted through by touching the screen. There is also a phone-like device to listen to a commentary aswell as viewing the onscreen visual information. This information greatly deepens our understanding of the practice of Francis Bacon.

The Micro Gallery

Here is a short video (8 min) on the Francis Bacon Studio at the Hugh Lane Gallery

Romanesque

Romanesque ArchitectureThe eleventh century (1000 – 1100 AD) saw peace and prosperity gradually begin to return to Europe after several centuries of war and poverty since the collapse of the Roman Empire at the end of the 5th century. Encouraged by the Catholic Church, communities began to replace their small wooden chapels with large stone churches. These builders looked to the structures of ancient Rome for guidance and for inspriation. These new churches were in the style of the Romans and therefore called Romanesque.

Bascilica Format

The Romanesque church was based on a Roman structure; the Bascilica ; A long rectangular building with a central nave and two aisles – one on either side. The aisles were seperated from the nave by an arcade consisting of a row of pillars and arches. The Romanesque bulders added to two transepts the top of the nave, one on either side to form a crucifix shape. Behind this was a small recess called an apse. This structure was the standard format for a Romanesque Church. Later on as Romanesque architecture developed, towers and other such features were added.Romanesque Churches were built completely of stone and in some cases of brick. This was a huge improvement on previous churches which were constructed with a wooden roof – a stone roof was permanent since if would not burn or rot. Stone was cut into wedge shapes blocks valled voussoirs. These were built up to form a vault. There were two main types of vaults; Barrel Vaults and Groin Vaults.

Barrel Vault

Groin Vault

Holding up the weight of a stone roof proved to be problematic. As the stone was very heavy – much heavier than wood, it created pressure on the walls of the church – this is called “ Outward Thrust”. As the walls were at risk of collapsing under the pressure of the outward thrust, Romanesque builders made the walls extra thick to compensate for this pressure – 2 to 3 meters in thickness.The thick walls gave Romanesque Churches a very heavy appearance. Also; very few windows could be built as this would weaken the walls, this meant that Romanesque churches were very dark inside.St Sernin’s Basilica, Toulouse, France 1080 – 1120 AD
St Sernin’s is a large Romanesque Church. It was located in Toulouse along the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, ( where St james is reputedly buried) so it was built extra large to accommodate the numerous pilgrims aswell as the local population.
St Sernin’s is a typical Romanesque church in that it was built in the basilica format, but because it is so large it has a few adaptions to this format. The main features of St Sernins are;
1) Heavy appearance with small rounded windows
2) Made of local brick not stone
3) An extra aisle on either side of the nave
4) The extra aisle continues around the transept and the apse creating an ambulatory where pilgrims could walk and pray
5) Nine small chapels at the back of the chuch behind the transept and the apse.
6) The nave is barrel vaulted the aisles are groin vaulted
7) Lantern Tower at the crossing of the transepts and the nave which lets in much light
8) A Clerestory/ Clearstory – a row of windows up at the top of the walls to let in light

Groundplan of St Sernins

Aerial view of St Sernin’s

Interior of St Sernin’s

Romanesque SculptureRomanesque sculpture had two functions;1) firstly sculpture was used to decorate the church; very often sculpture was placed in prominent positions such as the capitals ( top of the pillars) or the Tympanum ( the space over the doorway).
2) Secondly, Sculpture was used tell the stories of the bible to the ordinary people. At that time there were very few books in existence as they has to be written by hand. Almost all the population with the exception of the clergy could not read or write. These scupltures were used by the church to teach the bible.
Romanesque sculpture is carved “ in relief”. This means that it is not free standing but is carved out of the background support. Sculptors had not yet developed the skills and techniques to carve a fully 3-dimensional figure.

Apostle at St Sernin’s

Gislebertus; A Romanesque Master SculptorGislebertus is perhaps the most famous sculptor of the Romanesque Era. His work on the Cathedral of St Lazare in Autun, France 1120 -1135 is the most original sculpture of the period. Gislebertus is a master of visual storytelling and his work brilliantly expresses the stories from the bible.

Gislebertus; The Dream of the Magi; This relief sculpture is careved into a capital in Autun Cathedral. It tells the story of the Three Wise Men being wakened by an angel and pointed in the direction of a star. Gislebertus in a very simple beautiful way shows us the kings asleep together wearing their crowns. One blanket sweeps over the three kings. He shows us the bed at such an angle that we can see all three kings. The angel is gently waking one of the kings by touching his hand and is pointing the way for the kings

The Last Judgement is Gislebertus masterpiece. It is carved into the Tympanum of St Lazare, Autun. ( A Tympanum is the semi-circular space over the doorway). Gislbertus boldly carves his name below Christs feet – Gislebertus Hoc Fecit ( Gislebertus made this).The large figure of Christ is enthroned in centre with four angels – one either side of his head and one at each foot. On Christs right side are the good souls who will be saved and who are being helped into heaven by St Peter and the angels. On Christs left side – the Archangel Michael weighs each soul to see who is worthy to enter heaven. The devil is there to take the unworthy souls to hell. Below Christs feet the unweighed souls line up in purgatory waiting their turn to be weighed.

The Last Judgement by Gislebertus

Detail of the Last Judgement . The Archangel Michael and the Devil weighing the souls. See below the feet of the devil – the hand of God pulls a frightened soul out of Purgatory in order for it to be weighed

In the Last Judgement Gislebertus shows us why he is master of visual story telling. The expressions on the faces and his use of hand gestures conveys strong emotion to us. Gislebertus had a talent for drama and his vision of the Last Judgement must have been truly terrifying to people of the medieval era who gazed upon it

Gothic

Gothic Architecture (c1200 – c1600)Gothic Architecture developed out of Romanesque. New developments in building techniques meant that Gothic churches could soar higher and become flooded with light.
In comparison to the gloom and forbidding appearance of Romanesque Cathedrals and its sculpture the new Gothic style offered a vision of hope and salvation to the masses. The walls of these new buildings were not fortress like, they were full of glass – coloured glass. These buildings must have appeared truly miraculous, rising up to extraordinary heights. If the Romanesque sent out the message that hell and the devil was waiting the new Gothic message was of closeness to heaven and Gods glory. (E.H. Gombrich 1984).

Soaring stained glass windows reach daring heights in the 13th-century Gothic Saint-Chapelle church in Paris. Photograph: Pascal Deloche/Godong/Corbis

Three key developments in Gothic Architecture are;(1) Pointed arches
(2) Ribbed Vaults
(3) Flying buttresses
Pointed Arch

Gothic Arches; Courtesy of Henry .J. Sharpe

The pointed arch was an influence from the Middle-East. It produced less outward thrust than the rounded arch and therefore walls could be made thinner and more windows could be used. Another benefit was that the pointed arch could span a wider distance than a rounded one. This meant that windows could become bigger.Ribbed Vaults
It was discovered that if ribs ( a rib is an extra strip of stone ) were used to reinforce vaults then the wall between the ribs could be made much thinner than without ribs. This meant that ceilings and walls could become much thinner.

Ribbed Vault; Courtesy of Henry. J. Sharpe.

Ribbed Vaults in the Nave of St Denis, Paris

Flying ButtressButtresses had been used during the Romanesque era to support walls ( A buttress is a structure projecting out from a wall which strenghtens it). A Flying buttress is a development on from this. It consists of two parts; a ‘buttress’ – which stands up straight and a ‘flyer’ which is an arch joining the buttress to the exterior wall of the church. The development of Flying Buttresses meant that walls could be built much thinner and higher.

Flying Buttresses; Sainte Chapelle, Riom.

Flying Buttresses; Image courtesy of Henry.J.Sharpe.

These three structural developments ( pointed arch, ribs, flying buttresses) allowed the walls of Gothic churches to become very thin and high in comparison to the earier Romanesque era. They allowed for far more windows and larger windows to be built. Gothic Churches are typically very high and filled with light. The new Gothic structure has been thought of as a form of stone scaffolding that was designed to hold glass into place. ( Gombrich 1984)

Structure of Gothic Church Image courtesy of nvcc.edu

Interior of St Denis, Paris . You can see the Clerestory and Triforium of Glass

Gothic Tracery – Stone Tracery was used to make elaborate designs and patterns in windows. The function of tracery was to hold in panels of glass.

Rose Window; Notre Dame, Paris. View of the exterior and the interior.

Gothic Architecture went through three distinct phases (O’Sullivan, Sharpe):

• Early phase / transitional phase
• High Phase/ Classic Phase/ Rayonnant Style
• Late Gothic – also called the ‘ Flamboyant ‘ Gothic Style

Early Phase Gothic Architecture ( 1150 – 1200)
Chartres Cathedral and Notre Dame (Paris)are examples of Early Gothic style. They are higher and lighter in appearance than the Romanesque style but they are not as heavily decorated as the later Gothic periods. Look at Chartes Cathedral – the South tower on the right appears very plain compared to the North Tower( on the left) which was built some 300 years later in the late or “ Flamboyant “ Gothic Style.

• 

  Early Gothic Churches

  
  High Phase/ Classic Phase/ Rayonnant style ( 1200 – 1300)
  High Gothic Churches have massive deep portals (doorways) capped by pinnacles, with large Rose Windows and a great deal of decorated surfaces. There is very little area on the Church that is plain or undecorated.

High/ Classic Gothic Churches

Late Gothic or ‘Flamboyant” Phase (1300 – 1550)
The Gothic tendency to lighten structure and add decoration was taken to extremes during the Late Gothic period. The facade of these churches took on “ an organic, encrusted appearance”            ( O’Sullivan ). There is almost no space that is plain or undecorated.Rouen Cathedral and Milan Cathedral are good examples of the Late/Flamboyant Gothic Style.

Rouen Cathedral – Late Gothic

Milan Cathedral – Late Gothic

Special Study; Chartres Cathedral Chartres is considered to be one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture and is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Building first started in 1145. After a fire in 1194 the Cathedral was reconstructed over a 26 year period. The North Tower was rebuilt the 16th Century after a lightening strike destroyed the original tower.
The Cathedral is in a cruciform shape. The interior of the Chartres cathedral is remarkable; the nave is wider than that of any other cathedral in France (52 feet, or 16 meters). At the back of the Cathedrals apse is an ambulatory leading to a series of seven chapels – there are three deep rounded chapels and three shallow rounded chapels and one large rectangular chapel called the chapel of St Piat .

Groundplan of Chartres Cathedral

View of Chartres Cathedral

Chartes Cathedral – West Facade

Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet ( 1832 -1883) The son of a senior official in the Department of Justice, Manet was a well known figure in social circles in Paris. He trained with the artist Thomas Couture for six years during the 1850’s. As an apprentice painter, the young Manet spent much time in the Louvre copying the old masters, he was especially impressed by Spanish artist Velásquez.
As a young painter during the 1860’s, Manets ambition was to exhibit in the Salon. ( This was the main outlet to exhibit paintings in Paris). The Academy who selected paintings for exhibition were not impressed by Manet’s work. In 1863 an opportunity came Manets way – A “Salon des Refuses” was established to exhibit work that was not selected by the Academy. Manet exhibited a large painting called ‘Le Dejeuner sur l’ Herb’ (Luncheon on the Grass) which shocked audiences and instantly caused Manet a lot of negative attention.

Edouard Manet; Déjeuner sur l’Herb ( Luncheon on the Grass) 1863

In ‘Dejeuner sur l’Herb’ a nude woman sits on the ground beside two fully clothed men. In the background another woman is dressed only in her undergarments; she is bathing herself in a river. Manet was criticised on both moral and artistic grounds for displaying a nude figure in such a setting and for his loose quick painting style.This short video discusses the use of light and brushwork in ‘Déjeuner sur l’Herb’.

https://youtu.be/6T_i5HAhiqQ

Olympia (1965); When this painting was exhibited it caused even more outrage than Déjeuner sur L’Herb. A nude woman looks directly out at us from her bed. “ Olympia” was known at that time in Paris as a name typical of a prostitute. Not only was the painting scorned on moral grounds but Manet’s painting technique was highly criticised. The brushwork was too loose, the nude figure was too pale and washed out looking, the painting style was too flat for the critics.

Edouard Manet; Olympia 1865

Titian; Venus of Urbino 1538

Manet had based Olympia on a painting by the Renaissance artist Titian; “The Venus of Urbino”. Whereas the nude figure in Titians work was accepted as a beautiful godess, Olympia in contrast, caused consternation amongst the Paris audiences and was rejected as shocking and brazen.It is believed that Manet was greatly influenced by Photography and by Japanese prints when painting ‘Olympia’. The nude figure is very pale, there is hardly any shadows on her. This is similar in effect to a photograph with strong or over exposure to light. ‘Olympia’ is painted very flatly; there is hardly no modelling on her body and Manet paints with black outlines around the figure. This is similar in style to Japanese prints.

Japanese Print and Olympia detail

Detail of Olympia ; Brushwork. Manet was heavily criticised for his loose gestural brushstrokes – here you can see how quick and freely he painted the pattern on the drape

In 1882 Manet painted “ A Bar at the Folies- Bergére”. In contrast to “Dejeuner sur l’ Herb” and “Olympia” ; it was accepted by the Paris Salon and exhibited there to great acclaim from critics and audiences. It was Manet’s last great painting before his death in 1883. A young barmaid is standing behind the bar gazing out. Behind her is a large mirror that reflects the scene before the barmaid which she looks out upon.

Edouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère 1882

This painting is an intricate web of viewpoints.The barmaid gazes out – not at us – but instead stares into space. It is impossible to tell what she is thinking. In the mirror behind her we can see her reflection and a man is standing directly infront of her yet Manet chooses only to paint this man in the reflection not in reality. He should be standing in the front of the painting with his back to us. Manet places the reflection of the barmaid off-centre, it should be directly behind her in the mirror. Manet plays tricks with our perceptions. Its really a painting about seeing and looking. The scene that the barmaid is gazing out upon is one of hundreds of people who are reflected in the mirror behind her. Manet paints this crowd very loosely, capturing just fleeting impressions of the people as they disappear in and out of smoke and lights. “A Bar at the Folies Bergére is considered to be one of the masterpieces of the 19th Century.

Foreground detail ;A Bar at the Folies Bergére

It is a complex composition yet Manet still uses the traditional foreground, middle ground and background. In the foreground, along with the barmaid there is a still life of bottles, flowers and a bowl of oranges. This still life is painted in a more defined way than the rest of the painting. These objects appear in-focus with light glinting off the top of the shapes.In the middle ground of the painting Manet paints the refections of the barmaid and the male customer together with the refections of the bottles. This middle ground is painted far more loosely than the foreground, making it appear to receed from the foreground. Finally in the background Manet paints very loosely, describing people in just a few quick brushstokes. We can make out very little detail on these people. The crowd appear out of focus and receeds into the distance. Manet uses the traditional composition of fore, middle and back grounds to achieve perspective.

Middle ground detail; A Bar at the Folies Bergére

Background detail; A bar at the Folies Bergére