Manet and Courbet: Rise of Modernism
Edouard Manet and Gustave Courbet were both considered avant-garde painters in the
19th century. They both tried to challenge the people of their time to look at their paintings
as “modern” art. Many of the people during their period found that their paintings were
unconventional. In this essay, I want to simply point out their contributions to modern art,
their similarities, and their differences as painters.
Courbet was a realist painter, and he showed this by painting realistic events. A letter from
Courbet in 1861 stated, “Painting is an essentially concrete art and can consist only of the
representation of things both real and existing.” (Berman, “Larger than Life”). Courbet’s
realistic approach in his paintings was his contribution to modernism, and it was rendered
unconventional by the critics of his time. As stated in Berman’s article, conventional
painters during his period painted “fanciful scenes of rural life, stories drawn from
mythology and celebrations of aristocratic society.” It is evident that Courbet was breaking
free from the traditional painting, which I find courageous and a risky move. On the other
hand, Manet was an impressionist painter. As the authors stated, Manet, Monet, and
Morisot’s paintings are impressionist work and can be easily distinguished from an
academic painter such as, Bouguereau (Frascina et al. 7-8). Also Tucker mentioned in his
essay, Making Sense of Le Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe, “the art of painting in mid-19th century
critic was centered on Illusionism…” (25). Hence, “drawing had to be clear and precise,
not the broadly applied line that crudely declared the edges of things in Manet’s picture”
(25). Tucker also mentioned in his essay that Manet’s brushwork technique was
intentional, and Manet wanted his paintings “to speak on many levels” (26). Clearly,
Manet wanted people to view his paintings as it is. He did not want people to judge it by
what people regarded as appropriate, which I believe Picasso appreciated and led him to
create series of Le Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe. Manet’s painting of Le Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe
was his contribution to modernism. The painting had inspired many famous painters such
as, Picasso. Tucker stated in his essay that “for it clearly was the painting’s insolence and
enigmas, its historical resonance and aesthetic idiosyncrasies that pushed the aging 20th
century” (4). Here, Tucker was describing the painting’s characteristics, and how it
inspired Picasso to create series of Le Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe. Tucker added, “encouraging
