Manet and the French impressionists: Pissarro--Claude Monet--Sisley--Renoir--Berthe Morisot--Cézanne--Guillaumin . The subject was not of a kind toarouse the anger of the crowd as the Dejeuner sur Vherbe andthe Olympia had done,—they simply jeered at it; they could notstifle their laughter ; they surged round it all day, loudly picture represented two young women on a balcony, oneseated, the other standing, with a young man standing behindthem. The balcony was painted green. At the womens feetwas a little dog. It is difficult to understand why such a subjectshould appear mirth-pr
Manet and the French impressionists: Pissarro--Claude Monet--Sisley--Renoir--Berthe Morisot--Cézanne--Guillaumin . The subject was not of a kind toarouse the anger of the crowd as the Dejeuner sur Vherbe andthe Olympia had done,—they simply jeered at it; they could notstifle their laughter ; they surged round it all day, loudly picture represented two young women on a balcony, oneseated, the other standing, with a young man standing behindthem. The balcony was painted green. At the womens feetwas a little dog. It is difficult to understand why such a subjectshould appear mirth-provoking. The interest of the pictureclearly lay in the value of the painting itself and the peculiaritiesof the technique ; but these are points to which the public is neverattentive,—certainly the public who looked at Manets picturesignored them altogether. It never occurred to any one to ask how it came about thatthe visitors to the Salon each year always found their way toManets pictures, and showed a greater interest in them than inany others. A little reflection would have shown that this arresting. UNE JEUNE FILLE FROM 1868 TO 1871 47 singularity of composition and technique, this brilliance of light,which gave his pictures a place apart, were a precise proof that theartists work was characterised by those exceptional qualitieswhich only real masters possess. / But the public felt the fascina-tion without troubling to discover the reason of it, and as soonas they looked at his pictures they began to laugh. The greenbalcony appeared to them quite monstrous. Who ever had seena green balcony! The two young women were said to beunpleasing in appearance, their dresses slovenly, whilst the dogat their feet was declared to be a monstrous little creature, noless ridiculous than the cat in the Olympia. The attitude of the public towards Manet was treated him as a child. They wished to show him the errorof his ways, and to instruct him in the rules of his art,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectpainting, bookyear191
