3.5. Édouard manet

Task 1. Look up the pronunciation of the following names of Impressionists in a dictionary and practise pronouncing them.

Édouard Manet		Alfred Sisley
Edgar Degas		Camille Pissarro
Claude Monet		Paul Cézanne
Auguste Renoir

Task 2. Look at two paintings by Édouard Manet and answer the questions below.

E. Manet. Music in the Tuileries. 1862.	E. Manet. Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass). 1863.
What does the painting represent? Why do you think it was considered to be unusual?	What is depicted in the picture? Why do you think the painting did not conform to the taste of the period?

Task 3. Read the text and find answers to the questions in Task 2.

Édouard Manet – not just an impression

The famous French painter, Édouard Manet, was born in Paris in 1832. Sometimes he is called the first Impressionist, because his pictures influenced the Impressionists. The Impressionists were a group of artists from the middle of the 19^th century, with new ideas on what art should represent. They wanted to represent everyday reality as they perceived it in their painting, and they used contrasts of colour and light to give an exciting new visual impression.

Manet painted his first innovative picture in 1862, Musique aux Tuileries. It represented a group of Parisians at an outdoor concert. The painting was unusual because there was no central subject. The figures cover the entire canvas, some faces detailed, others indistinct, and some figures only half in the picture.

In 1863, his picture Déjeuner sur l'herbe scandalised critics at the Salon des Refuses exhibition. The picnic scene of a female nude with two young men was criticised because nudity in art was considered immoral if it was not in a mythological context.

But Manet's unconventional style fascinated many of the Impressionist artists like Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne. The Impressionists' use of colours and light also influenced Manet. He began to use a lighter, freer style. He also painted outdoors "en plein air"' occasionally, an important activity for the Impressionists.

However, Manet never accepted the opportunity to exhibit with the Impressionists. He wanted to show his pictures at the official Salon, but this remained a dream. An official honorary membership to the Légion d'Honneur came two years after his death in 1883.

Task 4. Answer the questions:

1. Who were the Impressionists?

2. What did they represent in their pictures?

3. When did Manet paint Musique aux Tuileries?

4. How many people were painted in Déjeuner sur l'herbe?

5. What do you know about the Salon des Refuses?

6. What "dream" did Manet have?

Task 5. Write the appropriate date, year or number for each event.

	The century when Impressionism emerged.
	The year Manet was born.
	When Manet's exhibited his first "scandalous" painting at the Salon des Refuses.
	Manet's age when he died.

Task 6. Choose the correct alternative.

1. Manet was an influence on / a member of the Impressionist movement.

2. "Musique aux Tuileries" was unusual because it showed an outdoor concert / had no central subject.

3. "Déjeuner sur l'herbe" was a mythological / picnic scene.

4. Manet sometimes / often painted outdoors.

5. Manet never / always wanted to exhibit his pictures with the Impressionists.

6. Manet became a member of the Légion d'Honneur 2 years before / after he died.

Task 7. Write a short paragraph about an artist you like. Say when he/she was born, where, what the main events in his/her life were, and describe the main subject of one of his/her pictures. Remember to use topical vocabulary units.

 SPEAKING