The Great Masters Of Painting: Manet

A major French painter of the late 19th century, Edouard Manet is considered the initiator of modern painting, which liberated academicism. Manet's paintings caused a sensation. He refused official exhibitions and later played a leading role in "bohemian elegance". Artists such as Edgar Degas admired him, as well as men of letters such as the poet Charles Baudelaire and the novelist Emile Zola, the poet Stéphane Mallarme. He was increasingly recognised and received the Legion of Honor on 1 January 1882. He died in 1883 at the age of 51, leaving behind more than four hundred paintings.