Art Smart Blog

Manet was pivotal in the evolution of art. He was the initiator of modern art because he rejected what had been done in art and stood apart from his piers. He did not cater his art to any particular group and apposed authority.

I think he wanted the world to know that even though they had this new leisure time and new technologies, humanity had not changed. There is a dirty/ not so nice side to life, no matter their station, and one shouldn't forget it.

The other impressionists deviated from the accepted ways of making art and focused on the everyday Bourgeois life. Their art caused change but, it did not push the limits as much as the work of Manet. Their work opened the door and Manet's walked us through it to a vast new freedom that the modernists reveled in.