Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe by Edouard Manet

Shown at the Salon des Refusés, Edouard Manet's 1863 painting Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe of two contemporary men having a picnic in the Tuileries Garden with two disrobed women was ridiculed by the critics. His work -- intended to provide a modern counterpart to the pastorals painted by the Venetian masters -- was thoroughly misunderstood. Manet's dark palette and rough brushwork in Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe prompted critics to call the work unfinished, and the direct gaze of the woman seated in the front transgressed the conventions for painting the nude.

Edouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe (oil on canvas, 81-7/8x104-1/8 inches) resides in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

The critical attacks on his work pushed Edoaurd Manet into exploring a new aesthetic. Next we'll see a painting in which this style develops further.

For more on Impressionist paintings, artists, and art history, see:

• Impressionism
• Vincent van Gogh
• Claude Monet