What were Edouard Manet’s intentions for his painting Luncheon on the Grass Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe 1863?



What was Manet’s intention with his composition in Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe Luncheon on the Grass )?

Yet in Le dejeuner sur l’herbe, Manet was paying tribute to Europe’s artistic heritage, borrowing his subject from The Pastoral Concert – a painting by Titian attributed at the time to Giorgione (Louvre) – and taking his inspiration for the composition of the central group from the Marcantonio Raimondi engraving after …

Why did Manet paint Luncheon on the Grass?

Manet is believed to have been inspired to paint The Luncheon on the Grass after viewing this piece in The Louvre, where it remains today. In addition to The Pastoral Concert, The Luncheon on the Grass also references The Judgment of Paris, an engraving depicting a scene from Greek mythology.

Why the painting Le déjeuner sur l’herbe Luncheon on the Grass by Édouard Manet was rejected by the Salon?





The painting was rejected by the salon that displayed painting approved by the official French academy. The rejection was occasioned not so much by the female nudes in Manet’s painting, a classical subject, as by their presence in a modern setting, accompanied by clothed, bourgeois men.

What is the subject matter of Edouard Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass 1863 )?

It depicts a female nude and a scantily dressed female bather on a picnic with two fully dressed men in a rural setting. Rejected by the Salon jury of 1863, Manet seized the opportunity to exhibit this and two other paintings in the 1863 Salon des Refusés, where the painting sparked public notoriety and controversy.

What was the public reaction to Édouard Manet’s painting Luncheon on the Grass?

​For all these reasons, Luncheon on the Grass was rejected from the Paris Salon. Instead, it was exhibited at the Salon des Refusés in 1863. There, it was still received with ridicule and outrage for its subject matter and technique. People laughed at the painting and some even hit the painting with sticks.