Édouard Manet: Before the Mirror Poster

douard Manet, Before the Mirror (Devant la glace) was completed in 1876.

• Paper dimensions 30 x 24 in.
• Image dimensions 26.25 x 19.5 in.
• Part of the Guggenheim's Permanent Collection

About the Artist:

Edouard Manet was born on January 23, 1832, in Paris. While studying with Thomas Couture from 1850 to 1856, he drew at the Acadmie Suisse and copied the old masters at the Muse du Louvre. After he left Coutures studio, Manet traveled extensively in Europe, visiting Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Italy. In 1859 he was rejected by the official Paris Salon, although Eugne Delacroix intervened on his behalf. In 1861 Manets paintings were accepted by the Salon and received favorable press, and he began exhibiting at the Galerie Martinet in Paris. During the early 1860s his friendships with Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Degas began. The three paintings Manet sent to the Salon of 1863, including Le Djeuner sur lherbe, were relegated to the Salon des Refuss, where they attracted the attention of the critic Thophile Thor.Edouard Manet was born on January 23, 1832, in Paris. While studying with Thomas Couture from 1850 to 1856, he drew at the Acadmie Suisse and copied the old masters at the Muse du Louvre. After he left Coutures studio, Manet traveled extensively in Europe, visiting Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Italy. In 1859 he was rejected by the official Paris Salon, although Eugne Delacroix intervened on his behalf. In 1861 Manets paintings were accepted by the Salon and received favorable press, and he began exhibiting at the Galerie Martinet in Paris. During the early 1860s his friendships with Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Degas began. The three paintings Manet sent to the Salon of 1863, including Le Djeuner sur lherbe, were relegated to the Salon des Refuss, where they attracted the attention of the critic Thophile Thor.

In 1865 Manets Olympia and Christ Mocked were greeted with great hostility when shown at the Salon. That year the painter traveled to Spain, where he met Thodore Duret. He became a friend of Emile Zola in 1866, when the writer defended him in a controversial article for the periodical LEvnement. In 1867 Zola published a longer article on Manet, who that year exhibited his work in an independent pavilion at the Paris Worlds Fair. The artist spent the first of several summers in Boulogne at this time. In 1868 two of his works were accepted by the Salon but were not shown to advantage.

The dealer Paul Durand-Ruel began buying his work in 1872. That same year The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama was shown at the Salon, and Manet traveled to the Netherlands for the second time. The poet Stphane Mallarm, who met the artist in 1873, wrote articles about him in 1874 and 1876 and remained a close lifelong friend. Manet declined to show with the Impressionists in their first exhibition in 1874. That summer he worked at Gennevilliers and Argenteuil with Claude Monet and the following year he visited Venice. In 1876 he exhibited Olympia and two paintings rejected that year by the Salon at his own studio. From 1879 to 1882 Manet participated annually at the Salon. In 1880 he was given a solo exhibition at Georges Charpentiers new gallery, La Vie Moderne, Paris. In 1881 Manet, then ailing, was decorated with the Lgion dHonneur. He died on April 30, 1883, in Paris. A memorial exhibition of his work took place at the cole des Beaux-Arts the following year.