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PIANO MUSIC PLAYS
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If anyone ever asked me
who was the most mysterious
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and enigmatic painter I know,
the one who's hardest to pin down,
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I know who my answer would be.
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The man who painted that.
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Edouard Manet.
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People say Manet invented
modern art, that he's the greatest
revolutionary of the 19th century.
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And of course, I love his work.
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I adore it. But put me in a corner
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and force me to tell you exactly
why, and I don't think I can.
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I've looked and looked
and looked at his paintings.
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Without being boastful,
I know an enormous amount about him.
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And yet I've never penetrated to his
core and really understood him.
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And nor has anyone else.
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This is Manet's
most-notorious picture, Olympia,
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the most-controversial
and provocative nude
of the 19th century.
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When this was shown at the Salon
of 1865, the gates of hell opened up
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and their contents
poured down on Manet's head.
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What a scandal! What uproar!
What drama!
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This caused a rumpus, too. And this.
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And this.
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And even this.
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It's as if everything Manet
painted wasn't what you
were supposed to paint.
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He moved the goalposts
and rewrote the rules.
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The man was a rebel
through and through...
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though he never looked like one.
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Now, this can't go on.
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We can't let a painter
as revolutionary and magnificent
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as the man who did that
slip through our grasp.
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It's time to crack his code,
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time to break his secret,
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time to get to the bottom
of Edouard Manet.
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The Ile de la Cite,
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that mysterious and secretive Gothic
island in the middle of the Seine,
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where the Hunchback
of Notre Dame resided.
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This was the original heart of
the city, surrounded by water,
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easy to protect, the ancient
epicentre of being French.
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It was also where Manet's
father worked - over there
at the Palais de Justice.
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The Manets were lawyers and judges.
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For eight generations,
they'd dispensed wisdom and rules
to their fellow Frenchmen.
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Manet's father,
Auguste, was a judge.
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His father had been a judge too,
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and the grandfather before that.
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So, not surprisingly,
they expected little Edouard,
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born 23rd January 1832,
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to become a judge as well.
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The father was a really important
figure in the French judiciary.
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He worked here,
at the Palais de Justice,
as the head of the civil courts,
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presiding over domestic disputes,
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arguments over wills and copyright,
a thoroughly respectable figure
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who would never, ever
have wanted his eldest son
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to become
one of those new-fangled artists.
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The idea that a Manet would
one day grow up to paint this,
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or this, would have been
utterly discombobulating to Auguste.
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I think it's worth suggesting
right at the outset that one of the
reasons Manet did paint this...
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and this...was because
he knew what they'd make of it
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at the Palais de Justice,
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and that only spurred him on.
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PIANO MUSIC PLAYS
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Manet's mother,
Eugenie-Desiree Fournier,
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had a more inventive background
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because she was the goddaughter
of the King of Sweden.
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Eugenie was 20 when she married
Auguste Manet. He was 34.
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She brought with her a generous
Swedish dowry,
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and more importantly for Manet,
a rare passion for music.
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She'd trained as a singer
and was good enough to sing
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at small private concerts
and other people's soirees.
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This passion for music was to be
her most-rewarding gift
to her eldest son.
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Music was to play a critical role
in Manet's work and life.
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PIANO MUSIC PLAYS
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Manet grew up in a changing city,
and flux was his inheritance.
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The modern age was arriving
in Paris at a brutal lick,
and no-one was ready for it.
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The French Emperor, Napoleon III,
nephew of the first Napoleon,
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had seized power
in a low-grade coup d'etat,
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promising
to make France great again,
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as great as she had been
under the first Bonaparte.
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A little man with a big name,
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Napoleon III had one eye on history
and the other on his legacy.
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And everywhere Manet would
have looked as he grew up,
tradition and modernity
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were tussling
for the soul of the new France.
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This tussle continued
in Manet's own family as well.
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His parents wanted him to study law
and keep up the family tradition
of producing judges.
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But Manet's own heart was elsewhere.
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SEAGULLS SCREECH
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There's a photo of him as a young
boy, the only one I've seen.
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So alert, such a piercing gaze.
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Too intelligent and questioning,
surely, to be a judge.
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His first ambition
was to join the navy.
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When he was 17, he set off on
a long sea voyage to Rio de Janeiro,
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which taught him
so much about the sea, and perhaps
a little about Latin women, too.
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When he came back,
he failed his naval exams.
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The only thing Manet was ever
going to be was an artist.
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The chap with a walrus moustache
is Thomas Couture,
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in his time, the most-appreciated
painter in Paris.
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Couture ran a workshop for young
artists, and after lots of
badgering, Manet senior
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finally agreed to let Manet junior
study in Couture's workshop in 1850.
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Manet stayed there for six years,
which, at 120 francs a year,
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adds up to a very long
and very expensive apprenticeship.
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Couture had made his own reputation
in 1847, when he showed
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this grotesque, flesh-laden
monstrosity at the Paris Salon.
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It was called
Les Romains de la Decadence -
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"the Roman orgy".
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And that, alas,
is exactly what it showed -
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an enthusiastic Roman love-in,
featuring a cast of hundreds.
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Although he was
responsible for this monstrosity,
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Couture would
always advise his pupils
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to paint the world
around them, the new Paris,
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the trains, the factories.
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"Don't paint
someone else's history,"
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he would advise them hypocritically,
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"paint your own."
And that's exactly what Manet did.
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You must have noticed that the
French harbour an interesting
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and resilient compulsion
to make big urban statements.
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They all do it -
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Mitterrand, with his grand project
at the Louvre.
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Pompidou, with his extraordinary
and pipey centre.
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And all these
ostentatious building projects
can trace their origins back
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to the dreams of one man,
that ruthless rebuilder of Paris,
Baron Haussmann.
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Haussmann wasn't actually a baron.
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He was just "Monsieur Haussmann",
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but he called himself "baron"
to give himself
some appropriate status.
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Between 1853, when the Emperor
made him prefect of the Seine,
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and 1870, when he was sacked
for being so unpopular,
Haussmann transformed Paris.
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00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:36,080
And I mean transformed.
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Pretty much everything
we think of as Paris today
was Haussmann's doing.
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These big Parisian vistas,
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the huge, wide boulevards,
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Haussmann did it all.
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So what's all this got to do with
Manet? As it happens, rather a lot.
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First off, it's important to
recognise that the Paris he was
living in for most of his adult life
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was a city in flux,
a giant demolition site
looking for its final shape.
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Manet couldn't get away
from the smell of change.
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Nor could anyone else.
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00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:28,760
But there's something more,
something crucial.
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When Haussmann was knocking down the
old neighbourhoods, he was knocking
down the old certainties as well.
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People's personal geographies
were being crushed -
the inner maps they had inherited.
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00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:50,080
I was in Beijing
just before the Olympics, and the
same thing was happening there.
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The old cantons were being
demolished, all the undesirables
moved out into the suburbs.
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An ancient city was being
forced to become a modern one,
whether it wanted to or not.
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Manet's Paris was like that as well.
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And this alienation of the people,
the removal of their sense of place,
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was being played out
not just in the streets of the city,
but in Manet's studio as well.
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He was now in his late twenties,
but looked older -
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prematurely balding, bearded.
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And the vagabonds,
drunks and gypsies
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loitering in his earliest pictures
can, at first glance,
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seem rather conservative, too.
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But only at first glance.
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I'm in Washington DC at
the National Gallery of Art.
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I'm going to see a painting that you
won't have seen if you've visited
the gallery in the past two years,
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because it hasn't been
hanging on the walls.
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The reason it hasn't
been hanging on the walls
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is because it's being restored.
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It's one of Manet's most-celebrated
early masterpieces -
The Old Musician.
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Anne, is this the painting I
remember seeing two years ago?
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I don't think it is.
It's completely changed tonality.
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It's like a different picture. It's
completely different. It was covered
with thick, yellow varnish,
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and it made it very dark, very
morose, very sombre. What we have now
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is a painting with a
great deal of light and colour,
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and as you said,
a very, very different painting.
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And some spectacular
brushwork going on here.
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I mean, look at this. This could be
a piece of abstract expressionism
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from the 1950s, couldn't it?
Absolutely.
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It's such brave and free paintwork.
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When you remove the yellow
veil which unifies everything,
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all of a sudden
you get this wonderful
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sense of depth, because instead of
everything being flattened
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by a yellow layer,
you get the feeling
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of figures in the foreground
and a landscape in the background.
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For myself, seeing something like
this close up for the first time -
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I don't think I've ever
been as close to a Manet before,
certainly not a great one -
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it does have this
extraordinary variety to it.
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If you look at this area and compare
it with that area or that area,
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it's almost like a
patchwork of different effects.
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He could have hidden all of these
things, but he chose not to do that.
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One of the things we love about
Manet is that he intentionally
abrades his own paint sometimes.
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He rubs through it to expose the
ground layer underneath, and you get
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this sort of soft quality.
You can see it in the shoes here.
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You can see he's rubbed through the
paint and taken it away... Oh, yes!
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..either scraping with
a dry tool or using a rag,
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but we know it's not
damaged, because then he comes over
with this beautiful, luscious area.
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You can see this.
He's deliberately taken some of
the surface off to create this...
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It almost looks like a digital spot
pattern from a modern computer.
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One could add white
paint, but you won't get the same
softness and that sort of
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broken quality of the paint, that
rubbing through, where you get the
texture as well as the variety.
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So we're talking about extreme
technical inventiveness?
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Absolutely. He was truly a genius.
He could really handle paint.
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FLAMENCO MUSIC PLAYS
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Just as Manet was emerging as an
independent artist, Paris was struck
down by a debilitating illness.
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Indeed, the whole of France
seemed suddenly to succumb to it.
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The illness made you twitchy
and excitable.
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It quickened the pulse
and sweated the brow.
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"Hispanomania" it was called -
a mad passion
for all things Spanish.
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Spanish art, Spanish song,
Spanish dance,
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Spanish storylines,
Spanish tears, Spanish bloodlust -
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00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:38,320
the French were obsessed
with all of them.
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Napoleon III had a Spanish wife,
the beautiful Empress Eugenie,
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so that was definitely part of it.
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Rumour had it that the Empress would
sometimes go to fancy-dress balls
in a matador's costume.
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No hot-blooded French male
could resist the thought of that.
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Spanish art was also being
rediscovered at the time.
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Velazquez, Murillo Goya...
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Their work was so dark and gutsy,
so tangible, so direct,
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00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:24,040
so utterly unlike the billowing pink
mythologies favoured by French art.
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Manet had encountered
Spanish art at the Louvre when
he was in Couture's studio.
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He was
devoted to Velazquez and had learnt
much of his directness from him.
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And that confrontational air
you get in his pictures,
that feeling that his art is going
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mano a mano with you, that was
inherited from Spanish art as well.
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HE SINGS IN SPANISH
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Spain may only have been just across
the border from France,
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but emotionally,
it was another world,
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and it spoke
to something deep inside Manet.
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On the outside, he was notoriously
dapper, always impeccably turned out
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with his yellow gloves
and his walking stick.
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You can tell from the pictures
of him painted by his friends
that he gave very little away.
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He was buttoned up, secretive,
elegant and proper.
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But one of my suspicions
about Manet is that
beneath this dapper exterior,
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he was surprisingly
emotional and tender.
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This emotional inner life of his
primed him to respond to Spanishness
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and led him to some peculiar
and fascinating early art -
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the Spanish guitarist,
caught open-mouthed in mid-song.
222
00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:01,520
Manet's brother, Gustave,
as a snake-hipped majo,
223
00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,320
with something of the wolf
about him.
224
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:09,880
And this curious female bullfighter,
pushed out unconvincingly
225
00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:15,840
among the bulls
in a strange clash of realities.
226
00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:21,600
In 1862, an exuberant troupe
of Spanish singers and dancers
227
00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:25,440
arrived in Paris from Madrid
to perform at the Hippodrome.
228
00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:29,560
Their star was one Lola Melea,
229
00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:35,760
who sang and danced
under the glorious stage-name of
Lola de Valence.
230
00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:40,880
Lola, la-la-la Lola.
231
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:43,760
She drove the French mad.
232
00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:49,440
Manet's friend,
the poet Zacharie Astruc,
wrote a very bad song about her.
233
00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:54,880
And Manet himself painted
her on stage...so unexpectedly.
234
00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,200
It's such a forlorn picture.
235
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,680
Lola de Valence, the crowd
behind her, dressed up to the nines
236
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:07,680
in her colourful Spanish costume,
with her fan, her mantilla.
237
00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:16,400
But when you look at her face,
instead of excitement or the energy
238
00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,120
you would expect to see there,
239
00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:23,520
there is sadness instead,
and introspection.
240
00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:30,880
Lola was to be the first
of Manet's forlorn modern heroines,
his thinking women.
241
00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:37,400
Spanish art taught him to mistrust
appearances and probe further.
242
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:43,520
Beneath the blur of the castanets
and the bang-bang-bang
of the dancing feet, there was
243
00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:49,120
always something deeper going on,
something more intense and pressing.
244
00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:07,240
Have you heard of
Zaltbommel in Holland?
245
00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:12,840
Me neither, which is why I've come
here and tracked down the cathedral,
246
00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,360
because Zaltbommel
is an important location for Manet.
247
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:24,720
This church,
the imposing St Maartenskerk,
had an excellent organist,
248
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:29,800
Carolus Antonius Leenhoff, whose
daughter, Suzanne Leenhoff,
249
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:36,240
became Manet's piano teacher...
and then his lover,
250
00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:38,840
possibly the mother of his son,
251
00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,920
and finally, his wife.
252
00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:50,680
Suzanne Leenhoff was plump,
placid and musically talented.
253
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:56,400
The story in Zaltbommel
is that she was heard playing
254
00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:59,240
by no less a figure
than Franz Liszt,
255
00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:04,160
who encouraged her to move to Paris
to progress her music.
256
00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:09,400
In Paris, she started giving
piano lessons to make ends meet.
257
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:16,920
When she was 19, she
was employed by the Manet family
to teach their sons.
258
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:20,560
We don't know
exactly what happened next.
259
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,360
We can only speculate feverishly.
260
00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:30,640
But on January 29th 1852, Suzanne,
who was now 22,
261
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:37,280
gave birth to a son
and named him Leon Edouard.
262
00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:43,720
On the birth certificate, the father
of this boy, Leon, is named Koella.
263
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:49,720
No first name, just Koella. Now,
this Koella has never been found.
264
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,000
No trace of him exists.
265
00:23:53,600 --> 00:24:01,120
A few years later, however,
when Leon was baptised, Edouard
Manet served as his godfather.
266
00:24:01,120 --> 00:24:06,680
And since Suzanne and Manet ended up
living together,
it's usually assumed
267
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:12,160
that young Edouard Manet,
who was only 17 when he met Suzanne,
268
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:14,680
must have been the father.
269
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:19,960
He certainly went on
to put Leon into many
270
00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:23,080
of his most mysterious pictures.
271
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:32,680
Recently, however, the very
uncomfortable suggestion has been
made that Leon's father
272
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,320
wasn't actually Edouard Manet,
the painter,
273
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:41,480
but HIS father, Auguste Manet,
the high court judge.
274
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:48,200
Some sort of cover-up
was definitely being orchestrated -
275
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,960
a deal between the Manets
and Suzanne.
276
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:55,160
In public, she never admitted
that Leon was her son.
277
00:24:55,160 --> 00:25:01,520
Instead, he would always be
presented as her younger brother
or a visiting nephew.
278
00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:08,000
Even at her funeral,
Leon was never officially accepted
as Suzanne's son.
279
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,320
All this would just be tittle-tattle
280
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:19,600
and not worth our attention
if it had no impact on Manet's art.
281
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,040
But of course, it did -
282
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:28,080
a mysterious, secretive,
but powerful impact.
283
00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:31,720
In Manet's first pictures
of Suzanne,
284
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:36,240
she's such a vulnerable
and terrorised presence.
285
00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:39,000
This bashful nude in Buenos Aires,
286
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,840
The Surprised Nymph,
is inspired by the Bible story
287
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:49,720
of Susanna and the Elders, which
describes how the gentle Susanna
was bathing
288
00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:56,160
when a group
of lecherous village elders spied
on her and demanded her favours.
289
00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:00,560
Something personal is at stake here.
290
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:10,840
Was Manet's father Leon's father
too, or was it Manet himself?
291
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,200
It's something
we need to decide in this film.
292
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,080
But one thing's certain.
293
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:20,920
Beneath this polite,
elegant, traditional facade
294
00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:25,080
that the
Manets were presenting to the world,
295
00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:30,680
all sorts of powerful
raptures and passions were stirring.
296
00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,520
And that wasn't just
true of the Manets.
297
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:39,400
It was true of the whole of Paris
and of modern life itself.
298
00:26:48,120 --> 00:26:53,000
The Manet family lands were situated
just to the north of Paris,
299
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,560
around St Ouen and Gennevillier.
300
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:03,760
They owned 150 acres
of these valuable northern
suburbs by the river.
301
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:07,160
Manet's grandfather
and his great-grandfather
302
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:12,960
had both been mayors of
Gennevillier,
and had streets named after them.
303
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,760
Manet would come up here for
weekends and short holidays.
304
00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:20,800
The family still owned a large
house not far from the river.
305
00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:26,960
Of course, at that time,
it looked nothing like this.
306
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:33,240
Progress has been particularly cruel
to St Ouen and Gennevillier.
307
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:40,520
If you want to see how the land
actually looked in Manet's time,
you need to turn to his art.
308
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,680
The Manet family lands
were the setting
309
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,320
for several of his most
personal pictures,
310
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,960
including
a particularly secretive one
311
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:58,000
that was about to make Manet famous,
though not in the way he wanted.
312
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:08,480
To succeed as an artist in Manet's
Paris, you needed first to succeed
at that monstrous, unwelcoming,
313
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:12,400
unhealthy art event,
the Paris Salon.
314
00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:21,000
The Salon was the largest
exhibition in the world,
and had been for nearly 300 years.
315
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:28,120
It started in 1673 as a prestigious
selection of the best French art.
316
00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:33,760
It took place once a year
in a gigantic exhibition hall
on the Champs-Elysees.
317
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:40,880
The Salon was a dog-eats-dog,
rat-eats-rat kind of event.
318
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:44,400
The art, piled high from floor to
ceiling,
319
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:49,760
was selected by a jury of
France's most-conservative artists.
320
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:52,520
The trouble is,
everyone needed the Salon.
321
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:57,160
There was no network yet of art
dealers and private collections.
322
00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:03,520
If you wanted to make your name
in art and sell your pictures,
the Salon was the only way.
323
00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:07,120
Getting in was always tough.
324
00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:10,800
But even by the cruel standards
of the Salon,
325
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:14,920
the jury of 1863
was particularly harsh.
326
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,880
Of the 5,000 or so pictures sent in,
327
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:25,440
the Salon of 1863 rejected nearly
half. It was a massacre.
328
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,400
But also a big political mistake,
329
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:35,320
because among the artists rejected
by this particularly arrogant
French jury
330
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:41,400
was the Emperor's
favourite landscape painter, who
immediately complained to his sire.
331
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:48,960
Napoleon III rushed over for a
special Salon preview,
332
00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:53,840
and was appalled to find his taste
being questioned so brutally.
333
00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:59,680
So, he had one of the
unlikeliest brainwaves in
the history of modern art
334
00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:05,160
and decided to put on a salon of the
rejected works,
335
00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:07,600
the Salon des Refuses.
336
00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,760
Housed in the same building
as the official Salon,
337
00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:18,600
the rebel show quickly amassed
a clutch of dismissive nicknames.
338
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,240
The Salon of the Banished,
339
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:26,920
the Salon of the Heretics,
the Salon of the Pariahs.
340
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:35,000
Manet showed three paintings,
arranged together like
a modern altar piece.
341
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:37,480
On either side, a Spanish subject.
342
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:42,520
And in the middle,
a picture that everyone noticed
343
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:46,800
and which caused them
to gibber and giggle.
344
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:48,720
GIGGLING
345
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:55,800
Today, it's one of the most famous
images in art
346
00:30:55,800 --> 00:31:00,240
but when it first appeared,
at the Salon des Refuses of 1863,
347
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:04,520
The Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe,
or as we rather clunkily call it,
348
00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:09,840
The Luncheon On The Grass, inspired
huge amounts of raucous laughter.
349
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:17,320
"Some seek ideal beauty",
smirked a typical critic,
350
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:21,360
"Monsieur Manet seeks
ideal ugliness."
351
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:28,680
In later years, later centuries,
there would be many occasions when
352
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:33,960
the public would turn up in droves
to have a good laugh at modern art.
353
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:37,600
So it's important to remember
that 1863,
354
00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:43,760
the year they all laughed at Manet,
was the start of that awful
tradition.
355
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:54,480
Manet's most obvious ambition
in the Dejeuner was to modernise
a famous old master,
356
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,680
one of the Louvre's
one most precious possessions,
357
00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:00,280
Le Concert Champetre,
358
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,240
attributed in those days
to Giorgione.
359
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:09,280
Two fleshy renaissance nymphs
loll around a classical landscape
360
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:11,720
with a pair of male musicians.
361
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:14,800
The boys have kept their clothes on.
362
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:18,200
The girls haven't.
363
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:25,960
This idea, that the men were
dressed and the women weren't,
364
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,600
was what Manet took most
obviously from Giorgione.
365
00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:33,040
It was also the chief reason
for all the giggles.
366
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:40,200
The girl they guffawed
was some common whore
367
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,800
from the Bois de Boulogne,
a fille de plaisir.
368
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:46,280
The men were callow students,
369
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:51,800
so uncouth they hadn't even taken
their hats off in her presence.
370
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:55,400
The woman has the features
of Manet's favourite new model,
371
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:56,640
Victorine Meurant,
372
00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:00,880
who stares out at us with that
compelling directness
373
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:04,360
that Manet seemed
always to notice in her.
374
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,760
It's been suggested, though,
that the body in the painting
375
00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:11,120
was actually modelled
by Suzanne Leenhoff and that Manet
376
00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:16,280
added Victorine's face later
to disguise Suzanne's presence.
377
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,120
I'm rather inclined to believe that.
378
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:24,040
It's a bulky, fleshy,
Rubensian body,
379
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,440
with generous rolls of fat
behind her neck
380
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:31,960
and eminently graspable
love handles around her waist.
381
00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:37,440
Those are Suzanne's dimensions,
not Victorine's.
382
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:41,120
The student in the middle,
the one with the gormless
expression,
383
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:46,160
was modelled by Suzanne's brother,
Ferdinand Leenhoff, a sculptor.
384
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:48,440
He's basically a cipher
in the picture,
385
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:50,240
he doesn't really mean much.
386
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:55,320
But the other student, he was
posed by Manet's two brothers,
387
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:59,560
Eugene and Gustav,
who took turns at being him.
388
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:04,280
Now, the actual pose of the second
student was borrowed from
389
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:08,320
a famous painting by Raphael
of the Judgement of Paris.
390
00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:12,400
If you look in the lower right
hand corner of the Raphael,
391
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:17,040
you'll see some river gods, arranged
in the same way as Manet's group.
392
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:22,160
There's something else to notice
about this student with a hat,
393
00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:24,360
something that's often overlooked.
394
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:27,080
His actual pose
is a mirror image
395
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:31,240
of Michelangelo's
Adam from the Sistine ceiling.
396
00:34:31,240 --> 00:34:34,520
He's in exactly the same pose.
397
00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:39,560
So, Manet's brother
is a kind of Adam in reverse.
398
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:44,040
What about her,
the figure at the back?
399
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:46,160
When the painting was first shown,
400
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:48,560
she was the subject
of much merriment.
401
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:53,240
People complained that her scale
was wrong, she was much too large.
402
00:34:53,240 --> 00:34:56,960
But worse than that,
what's she actually doing?
403
00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:00,720
She seems to be douching herself,
404
00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:04,720
washing her privates intimately.
405
00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:07,200
Now, when do French women do that?
406
00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:13,760
Manet himself enjoyed
referring to this outrageous image
407
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:18,000
of contemporary sexual frolics
as, "la partie carree."
408
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:21,160
What we would call, a foursome.
409
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:23,880
And much ink has been
spilt in the search
410
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,920
for the real meaning
of Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe.
411
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:35,880
It could just have been a scene from
modern life, a bunch of naughty
students having some outdoor fun.
412
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:40,280
But would that have been worth
all this pictorial effort?
413
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:44,440
It could be a sex scene,
pure and simple.
414
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:47,840
But it feels
much too loaded for that.
415
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:53,520
Or, most intriguingly of all,
it could be some veiled rumination
416
00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:55,720
upon Manet's family situation.
417
00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:02,840
Just before the picture was
finished, in 1862, Manet's father,
418
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:05,680
the respectable High Court judge,
419
00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:10,440
died from what we now know
was tertiary syphilis.
420
00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:17,320
And the Manet family set about
insuring that his reputation
would remains spotless
421
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:23,360
and that the subject of his possible
fathering of Leon was never aired.
422
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:30,120
Unless, that is,
you study the paintings of his son,
423
00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:35,640
where the sins of the father sound
a mysterious but insistent echo.
424
00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:42,360
Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe
was a deliberate act of provocation.
425
00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:48,440
Public bathing in the nude
was illegal at the time,
and so was mixed bathing.
426
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:52,800
Everyone in that picture
could have been brought here,
427
00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:54,760
to the Palais de Justice,
428
00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:59,600
before Manet's father and prosecuted
for immoral behaviour.
429
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:03,360
A subject with which
August Manet was,
430
00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:06,760
of course, personally conversant.
431
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:14,760
There are telling but secretive
details to the Dejeuner...
432
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:20,480
Hovering in the foliage, its wings
outspread, is a bird, a bullfinch.
433
00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:26,280
In Renaissance art, a hovering bird
invariably represented
434
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:32,800
the Holy Ghost, disguised as a dove,
arriving with grace at a baptism.
435
00:37:35,720 --> 00:37:39,120
Next to Victorine's
discarded clothes,
436
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:41,480
down in the corner, was a frog.
437
00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:46,640
In religious art, frogs, toads
and other creepy-crawlies,
438
00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:49,320
were miniature embodiments
of Satan,
439
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:54,400
slithery stand-ins for
the wicked snake that tempted Eve
440
00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:58,240
in the Garden of Eden
and led to our downfall.
441
00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:05,440
So is the Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe a
disguised portrayal of Adam and Eve,
442
00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:08,120
a painting about the fall of man?
443
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:09,640
Nearly.
444
00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:12,640
But Manet is never that explicit.
445
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:14,280
That's not how he works.
446
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:17,720
He's a suggester of possibilities,
447
00:38:17,720 --> 00:38:20,600
an implier, a hinter.
448
00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:26,440
But I do think he had his father's
lapses in mind when he painted this.
449
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:34,760
Old master sins are being cleverly
re-imagined for the modern age
450
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:40,120
by a brazen Eve from the boulevards
and a foppish, studenty Adam,
451
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:44,760
lounging provocatively around
a cut-price modern paradise
452
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:50,840
that has been lost for the same
old Garden of Eden reasons...
453
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:54,920
Because a man
couldn't keep his hands off a woman.
454
00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:58,760
Because a High Court judge
died of syphilis
455
00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:02,800
a few months before
this picture was finished.
456
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:19,880
There are various stories about
457
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,760
how and where Manet met
Victorine Meurant.
458
00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:29,040
She became his greatest model,
but also, a very juicy mystery.
459
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:33,720
According to one version
of the story,
460
00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:36,160
which I must say I would love
to believe,
461
00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:40,640
he actually bumped into her outside
his father's law courts.
462
00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:45,120
She'd been brought before the judge
for illegal street singing.
463
00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:48,080
Manet was on the way to meet
his father, he noticed her,
464
00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:52,240
he liked her,
and he put her in his art.
465
00:39:52,240 --> 00:39:54,920
Wouldn't that be glorious
if it were true?
466
00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:02,360
Another version is that he
saw her coming out of a cafe
467
00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:05,840
where she'd been performing
that evening,
468
00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:10,560
her guitar tucked quickly under her
arm, on the way to another gig.
469
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:17,360
And that's certainly how he painted
her in a delicious early portrayal.
470
00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:18,600
She's in a hurry.
471
00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:20,680
She's hitched up her skirts
472
00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:24,480
and she's nibbling so enticingly
at some cherries,
473
00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:26,120
the fruits of paradise.
474
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:32,480
But the most likely scenario
is that he came across
her modelling somewhere.
475
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:37,200
She modelled for Couture,
for instance, so he could have
seen her there.
476
00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:39,360
And something about her
captivated him.
477
00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:42,280
You can see it
in all the paintings he made of her.
478
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:45,040
It doesn't surprise me at all,
because she is,
479
00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:49,560
on the evidence of his art,
a strangely captivating woman.
480
00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:08,040
STORM CLOUDS RUMBLE AND A CROW CAWS
481
00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:15,520
In October 1863, Manet set off
once again for Holland.
482
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:21,360
He had been before,
to look at Dutch painting,
but this trip was different.
483
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:24,080
This time, he was getting married.
484
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:29,000
No one in Paris
had been told about it.
485
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:33,160
Baudelaire only found out about
the wedding on the day Manet left.
486
00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:36,400
They had been together
for a decade or more
487
00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:40,680
but none of Manet's friends had met
Suzanne or knew anything about her.
488
00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:45,960
So we're dealing here
with an exceptionally discreet
489
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:50,680
and secretive individual,
a man who gave nothing away.
490
00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:53,560
No wonder his art
is so hard to grasp.
491
00:41:56,520 --> 00:41:59,760
I'm reminded of something
the painter Mark Rothko once said,
492
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:04,400
"There's more power in telling
little than in telling all."
493
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:10,280
Suzanne remains a shadowy figure.
494
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:14,440
We know she was plump, she played
the piano, and that's about it.
495
00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:19,320
Manet kept her away from
his friends, and seemed almost
496
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:23,840
to segregate her in a separate
compartment of his life.
497
00:42:30,560 --> 00:42:34,680
The wedding was a glum affair.
Manet arrived in early October
498
00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:37,360
and stayed for three weeks,
which is the time needed
499
00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:40,560
for the bands to be published
in the town hall.
500
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:43,680
No friends were invited, no family.
501
00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:49,320
Leon wasn't here because he'd been
sent temporarily to boarding school.
502
00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:55,040
And so, on 28th October, two days
before Suzanne's 34th birthday,
503
00:42:55,040 --> 00:42:59,560
they were married in
a civil ceremony in this town hall.
504
00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:08,160
What the good people of the town
made of this elegant French dandy's
505
00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:14,120
marriage to their plump and dowdy
kinswoman isn't recorded,
506
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:17,160
but I imagine it surprised
them too.
507
00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:22,040
Just before he left for Holland,
Manet, who was now 32,
508
00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:26,760
had managed to finish the second
of his most infamous nudes.
509
00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:32,160
And this time, the irresistible
siren with the flower in her hair
510
00:43:32,160 --> 00:43:35,560
was definitely not Suzanne Leenhoff.
511
00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:38,480
But I'm getting ahead
of myself here.
512
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:47,440
Paris in the 1860s
was the place to be.
513
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:53,400
Modern life in all its busy shades
was crowding in on the city.
514
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:05,320
Manet's Paris was so fashionable.
There was plenty of money around
515
00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:09,360
and plenty of new urban pleasures
on which to spend it.
516
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:13,840
Trains, racecourses, dance halls...
517
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:19,680
And an elegant new breed of
city-dweller had emerged to partake
of these new urban pleasures.
518
00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:26,000
The poet Baudelaire christened
this new type of city-dweller,
"the flaneur."
519
00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:31,280
What's a flaneur?
520
00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:33,320
Well, I'm definitely not one.
521
00:44:33,320 --> 00:44:35,000
I'm too slobbish.
522
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:41,040
The flaneur is the most
elegant chap at the races,
the one in the best clothes,
523
00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:45,400
who moves exquisitely through the
crowd with his gloves and his cane.
524
00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:51,200
Manet, who was always very careful
about his appearance,
525
00:44:51,200 --> 00:44:55,800
and famous for his jaunty cravats
and his yellow gloves,
526
00:44:55,800 --> 00:45:00,960
was the flaneur's flaneur,
an impeccable example of the breed.
527
00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:05,160
Flaneurs had lots of leisure time,
528
00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:10,280
which they spent going to the opera
or taking in the races at Longchamp.
529
00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:11,520
On a summer's day,
530
00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:16,400
they might go boating on the Seine
with a new female acquaintance
531
00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:20,880
that they'd recently made at one of
the fashionable dance halls
532
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:23,880
that were springing up
all over Paris.
533
00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:30,000
Unless, of course, Monsieur
already had a mistress,
which most messieurs did.
534
00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:34,480
And it was to her boudoir that he
would repair at the end of the day
535
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:39,960
for a few extra-marital thrills,
an added soupcon of l'amour.
536
00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:47,080
Of all Manet's pointed
evocations of modern life,
537
00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:50,960
the one that seemed to annoy
the most people was this one.
538
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:56,600
Olympia, the most notorious
courtesan in Napoleon III's Paris.
539
00:45:58,240 --> 00:46:02,200
Olympia was unveiled
at the Paris Salon of 1865
540
00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:06,760
and the sight of her did
to the 19th century French audience
541
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:11,400
more or less what stepping on
the tail of a cat does to a cat...
542
00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:14,680
It made them very angry.
543
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:18,360
Manet was used to bad reviews.
544
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:22,880
His Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe had
already been mauled by the critics.
545
00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:27,000
But nothing could have prepared him
for the onslaught of hatred
546
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:31,200
and mockery that accompanied
the unveiling of Olympia.
547
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:35,080
"A sort of female gorilla",
548
00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:38,680
complained Le Moniteur Universel.
549
00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:42,760
"The putrefying body
recalls the horrors of the morgue,"
550
00:46:42,760 --> 00:46:45,600
spat Victor de Jankovic.
551
00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:49,200
"Manet has made himself
the apostle of the ugly,"
552
00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:52,240
decided Felix Jarreur.
553
00:46:54,520 --> 00:47:01,440
Now either I'm blind or people
in the 1860s had completely
different eyesight from me,
554
00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:04,680
because however much
I look at Olympia,
555
00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:08,600
I can't see anything ugly
or repulsive about her.
556
00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:14,640
I suppose she's quite short,
but a gorilla?!
557
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:18,240
And is this enticing
paleness of hers
558
00:47:18,240 --> 00:47:21,560
really the colouring of the morgue?
559
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:25,800
Isn't she rather tender
and beautiful
560
00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:31,280
and a touch nervous about being
examined so frankly by us?
561
00:47:32,200 --> 00:47:36,520
Manet based her on Titian's
celebrated Venus of Urbino
562
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:39,600
and one of the things
he was trying to do
563
00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:44,480
was to paint a modern Venus
for Paris in the 1860s,
564
00:47:44,480 --> 00:47:46,480
a working equivalent of a goddess.
565
00:47:48,360 --> 00:47:53,000
But the name Olympia had other
connotations, naughty ones.
566
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:56,360
Not only was it the kind
of stage name used by
567
00:47:56,360 --> 00:47:59,720
high-class prostitutes at the time,
568
00:47:59,720 --> 00:48:05,400
who loved to call themselves
Octavia or Artemisia or Aspasia,
569
00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:11,080
Olympia was also the name of one
of the most rapacious courtesans
570
00:48:11,080 --> 00:48:15,320
in history,
the notorious Olympia Maidalchini.
571
00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:20,400
Olympia Maidalchini
was the mistress of Innocent X,
572
00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:23,680
that seemingly formidable
Baroque Pope
573
00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:28,200
who had been painted
by Manet's great hero, Velazquez.
574
00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:35,560
Velazquez gave us an Innocent X
who seems so stern and fierce.
575
00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:43,400
But in real life,
Olympia Maldacini had
Innocent X in the palm of her hand.
576
00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:47,040
They called her, "La Papessa",
the Lady Pope.
577
00:48:47,040 --> 00:48:50,560
And for more than a decade
in the 17th century,
578
00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:54,240
Olympia Maldacini
ruled the Catholic Church.
579
00:48:56,720 --> 00:49:02,080
So this Olympia, Manet's Olympia,
arrived on the Salon's stage
580
00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:06,520
with a dangerous reputation
already in place.
581
00:49:06,520 --> 00:49:09,600
He shows her stretched out on a bed.
582
00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:11,640
There's a flower in her hair,
583
00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:16,160
a little black lace around her neck,
and on her wrist, a bracelet.
584
00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:23,400
The bracelet contained
an actual lock of Manet's hair,
585
00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:27,200
cut off when he was a boy
and carried around by his mum.
586
00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:29,320
Make of that what you will.
587
00:49:32,160 --> 00:49:36,800
So Olympia presents herself to us
on her bed. And her servant girl,
588
00:49:36,800 --> 00:49:42,640
a mysterious presence at the back,
is bringing in a bunch of flowers.
589
00:49:42,640 --> 00:49:44,280
Who are they from?
590
00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:51,160
This is where the action gets
really interesting and problematic.
591
00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:56,120
The way Olympia is looking out at us
and the way that the servant girl
592
00:49:56,120 --> 00:50:01,800
is showing her the flowers, makes it
impossible to avoid the conclusion
593
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:08,200
that we out here,
the picture's spectators,
are the clients she's waiting for.
594
00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:11,200
We're the ones
who sent her the flowers.
595
00:50:11,200 --> 00:50:15,000
We're the next volunteers
for her bed.
596
00:50:17,800 --> 00:50:20,320
This was what was
so annoying about the picture.
597
00:50:20,320 --> 00:50:26,080
Every man at the Salon was being
accused of being Olympia's client,
598
00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:32,880
of visiting brothels and having
mistresses, of paying for love.
599
00:50:32,880 --> 00:50:35,760
And since all of them were doing
exactly that,
600
00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:41,720
Olympia hit a very uncomfortable
nail right on the head.
601
00:50:43,560 --> 00:50:48,840
The detail that particularly annoyed
people and caused the most giggles,
602
00:50:48,840 --> 00:50:51,600
was the black cat
at the bottom of the bed.
603
00:50:51,600 --> 00:50:53,920
In Titian's original,
604
00:50:53,920 --> 00:50:59,040
it had been a curled up dog,
representing fidelity.
605
00:50:59,040 --> 00:51:01,320
But in Manet's
outrageous re-imagining,
606
00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:05,360
the loyal dog is replaced by
an angry black pussy,
607
00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:09,240
with its tail stuck
provocatively in the air.
608
00:51:09,240 --> 00:51:13,320
See how cattily
it turns in our direction.
609
00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:17,320
"Stay away from my mistress!",
it seems to be hissing.
610
00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:18,760
"You cad!"
611
00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:33,720
For many years, no one was quite
sure when Manet had painted some
of his most important pictures.
612
00:51:33,720 --> 00:51:36,440
Then Juliet began to research
these matters
613
00:51:36,440 --> 00:51:39,320
and finally tracked down
this important studio.
614
00:51:39,320 --> 00:51:41,920
Tell us about this place
where we're standing?
615
00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:47,400
It strikes me as rather different
from most of the Haussmann period
architecture you see around here?
616
00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:53,520
Well, yes, because this was really
when Paris was beginning
to be developed.
617
00:51:53,520 --> 00:51:57,480
This area where we are now
was in the middle of nowhere.
618
00:51:57,480 --> 00:51:59,720
It was open countryside.
619
00:51:59,720 --> 00:52:04,360
There was a great plain of,
sort of, bare, derelict ground
620
00:52:04,360 --> 00:52:06,960
between here and the Batignolles,
for example.
621
00:52:06,960 --> 00:52:10,600
So, Manet moved into this
new building
622
00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:14,320
and he found this
very splendid studio.
623
00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:16,040
KNOCKING
624
00:52:16,040 --> 00:52:20,400
Allo?
Madame, Madame Boulain? Bonjour.
625
00:52:20,400 --> 00:52:22,280
Bonjour. Merci.
626
00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:23,760
Merci.
627
00:52:27,600 --> 00:52:30,800
Je suis Waldemar Januszczak.
628
00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:34,600
Madame Wilson-Bareau,
experte de Manet!
629
00:52:34,600 --> 00:52:36,120
Bonjour.
630
00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:40,040
THEY EXCHANGE GREETINGS IN FRENCH
631
00:52:40,040 --> 00:52:44,720
So, Juliet, this is the space
as Manet would have known it?
632
00:52:44,720 --> 00:52:49,320
More or less, yes. I suspect that
it wouldn't have had
633
00:52:49,320 --> 00:52:53,080
a staircase and as big a balcony.
634
00:52:53,080 --> 00:52:57,280
And I think he just had a cube,
basically.
635
00:52:57,280 --> 00:52:59,520
So, I'm imagining now
636
00:52:59,520 --> 00:53:04,280
that we're in a kind of tall,
light-filled space,
637
00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:09,560
and three deep on the walls,
some of Manet's greatest pictures.
638
00:53:09,560 --> 00:53:14,960
And we know, unlike many artists,
that Manet's studio was,
639
00:53:14,960 --> 00:53:19,640
as it were, like,
it had a monastery feel to it.
640
00:53:19,640 --> 00:53:22,880
There was nothing in it
that wasn't useful.
641
00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:26,960
There was probably a couch or two,
some chairs, a table, and he would
642
00:53:26,960 --> 00:53:31,720
have had pictures stacked in racks
and with their face to the wall.
643
00:53:31,720 --> 00:53:35,520
So, Olympia may have been
over here...
644
00:53:35,520 --> 00:53:38,120
Exactly. The Old Musician over here.
645
00:53:38,120 --> 00:53:41,160
Yes, one thing that one has
to remember is that
646
00:53:41,160 --> 00:53:44,840
paintings were not painted
in the twinkling of an eye.
647
00:53:44,840 --> 00:53:49,920
We know, for example, that Olympia
must have been begun perhaps even
648
00:53:49,920 --> 00:53:54,560
as early as the late '50s,
or certainly 1860 onwards.
649
00:53:54,560 --> 00:53:58,640
I'm sure he goes on adding bits.
650
00:53:58,640 --> 00:54:02,880
I think he added
the black cat to Olympia
just before it went into the Salon.
651
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:05,600
A final touch? The final touch.
652
00:54:05,600 --> 00:54:07,360
MEWING
653
00:54:08,720 --> 00:54:12,640
The museum in Mannheim, Germany.
654
00:54:12,640 --> 00:54:15,280
A big statement of a building.
655
00:54:15,280 --> 00:54:20,800
It dates from 1907 and because
it's so stern and bossy,
656
00:54:20,800 --> 00:54:25,200
I've always thought it's a
particularly suitable location
657
00:54:25,200 --> 00:54:29,080
for one of Manet's
most important pictures.
658
00:54:34,240 --> 00:54:38,920
One of the hardest things
a painter can do, any painter,
659
00:54:38,920 --> 00:54:43,720
is to capture a resonant moment
of their own history.
660
00:54:43,720 --> 00:54:48,200
To make great art
out of great politics.
661
00:54:48,200 --> 00:54:52,880
No-one has managed to make an image
of the Iraq war, for instance,
662
00:54:52,880 --> 00:54:56,960
that will really speak
to subsequent generations.
663
00:54:56,960 --> 00:54:59,360
And in the annals of modern art,
I can only think
664
00:54:59,360 --> 00:55:05,480
of two great paintings that address
the history of their own times
665
00:55:05,480 --> 00:55:09,200
with appropriate power
and resonance.
666
00:55:11,160 --> 00:55:15,040
One is Picasso's Guernica,
of course,
667
00:55:15,040 --> 00:55:21,400
the ultimate 20th Century reflection
upon the barbarism of war.
668
00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:24,280
And the other...
669
00:55:24,280 --> 00:55:26,920
Is in here.
670
00:55:26,920 --> 00:55:32,040
Manet's Execution Of Maximilian.
671
00:55:32,040 --> 00:55:36,920
MILITARY-STYLE MUSIC PLAYS
672
00:55:38,160 --> 00:55:41,840
It shows the climax
of Napoleon III's
673
00:55:41,840 --> 00:55:47,640
most inglorious foreign adventure,
his Iraq, his Vietnam.
674
00:55:47,640 --> 00:55:50,160
We're actually in Mexico.
675
00:55:50,160 --> 00:55:53,000
What on earth
are the French doing here?
676
00:55:53,000 --> 00:55:55,440
A good question.
677
00:55:55,440 --> 00:55:59,680
The French didn't like
the Americans. They still don't.
678
00:55:59,680 --> 00:56:05,280
So they decided to interfere in the
affairs of Mexico and to install
679
00:56:05,280 --> 00:56:09,920
a puppet emperor, loyal to the
French, on the American doorstep.
680
00:56:09,920 --> 00:56:16,360
The Mexicans, however, already had
a ruler they'd voted for themselves.
681
00:56:16,360 --> 00:56:22,600
So, in 1863, Napoleon III
engineered what we now call,
682
00:56:22,600 --> 00:56:25,280
"some regime change".
683
00:56:25,280 --> 00:56:32,240
He set in his troops and forcibly
imposed an Austrian archduke,
684
00:56:32,240 --> 00:56:36,120
Ferdinand Maximilian,
on the Mexican people.
685
00:56:38,840 --> 00:56:42,160
Maximilian was
well-meaning and naive.
686
00:56:42,160 --> 00:56:46,400
But he wasn't Mexican
and he shouldn't have been here.
687
00:56:48,640 --> 00:56:50,120
It didn't last long.
688
00:56:50,120 --> 00:56:55,960
The French soon learned that
keeping a large army in Mexico
was impossibly costly.
689
00:56:55,960 --> 00:56:58,920
So, after a couple
of disgruntled years,
690
00:56:58,920 --> 00:57:02,680
they pulled out
and abandoned their puppet emperor.
691
00:57:02,680 --> 00:57:08,960
And Maximilian, loathed by the
people, was overthrown, hunted down,
692
00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:15,680
and as we can see, executed,
on June 19th, 1867,
693
00:57:15,680 --> 00:57:20,720
with a couple
of his loyal Mexican generals.
694
00:57:21,960 --> 00:57:26,240
Reports of the execution
quickly reached Paris and Manet,
695
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:31,920
the staunch Republican
who needed little encouragement
to despise Napoleon III,
696
00:57:31,920 --> 00:57:35,280
began work immediately
on a war picture
697
00:57:35,280 --> 00:57:38,880
that would powerfully indict
the behaviour of the French.
698
00:57:40,240 --> 00:57:45,120
His first version,
based on sketchy newspaper reports,
699
00:57:45,120 --> 00:57:48,120
is a wispy, impressionistic thing.
700
00:57:48,120 --> 00:57:50,400
Some men in sombreros,
701
00:57:50,400 --> 00:57:54,440
shooting into the mists
as the smoke swirls doomily.
702
00:57:55,840 --> 00:58:00,760
As more and more information about
the execution got back to Paris,
703
00:58:00,760 --> 00:58:06,840
Manet kept returning doggedly
to the image and starting again.
704
00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:12,280
This painting in
the National Gallery in London,
705
00:58:12,280 --> 00:58:15,760
which was cut up after his death,
was his second attempt.
706
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:20,280
By now, he'd learned
that the Mexican firing squad
707
00:58:20,280 --> 00:58:25,640
was dressed in uniforms very similar
to the ones worn by the French.
708
00:58:25,640 --> 00:58:32,720
So, the Mexican firing squad becomes
a surrogate French firing squad.
709
00:58:32,720 --> 00:58:38,440
And Maximilian
is being killed by his own side.
710
00:58:38,440 --> 00:58:42,240
The National Gallery picture
was set outside
711
00:58:42,240 --> 00:58:45,440
in a dry and scrubby
Mexican landscape
712
00:58:45,440 --> 00:58:51,120
that wasn't claustrophobic enough
for Manet, not intense enough.
713
00:58:51,120 --> 00:58:55,360
So for this,
the final and greatest version,
714
00:58:55,360 --> 00:58:58,680
the culmination, the masterpiece,
715
00:58:58,680 --> 00:59:04,840
Manet puts his firing squad in front
of a blank and immovable wall
716
00:59:04,840 --> 00:59:09,400
that seems somehow to concentrate
the violence,
717
00:59:09,400 --> 00:59:14,000
and which brings to
the scene some of that pent up,
718
00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:17,600
ceremonial intensity of a bullfight.
719
00:59:23,440 --> 00:59:26,680
That's Maximilian in his saintly
sombrero,
720
00:59:26,680 --> 00:59:30,920
flanked by the two Mexican generals
who stayed loyal to him,
721
00:59:30,920 --> 00:59:36,160
Thomas Mejia and Miguel Miramon.
722
00:59:36,160 --> 00:59:40,080
The firing squad
really was that close.
723
00:59:40,080 --> 00:59:42,960
They were lousy shots
and that's how it was done.
724
00:59:42,960 --> 00:59:49,040
But in reality, there were three
firing squads, one for each victim.
725
00:59:49,040 --> 00:59:54,160
But Manet crowds them all together
in one deadly block
726
00:59:54,160 --> 00:59:57,440
to focus the tragedy.
727
00:59:59,640 --> 01:00:05,080
The whole thing seems
to be taking place
in the slowest of slow motions.
728
01:00:05,080 --> 01:00:09,560
A constant playing and replaying
of the scene that seems never
729
01:00:09,560 --> 01:00:14,280
to finish, like an irredeemable sin
that can never be scrubbed away.
730
01:00:16,040 --> 01:00:19,720
This figure here
fiddling with his gun is crucial.
731
01:00:19,720 --> 01:00:24,240
He's the soldier who will actually
deliver the coup de grace
732
01:00:24,240 --> 01:00:27,840
that finally kills Maximilian.
733
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:32,720
Because, of course,
the execution was bungled.
734
01:00:32,720 --> 01:00:38,920
Most of the shots missed, and he had
to go over to the struggling body,
735
01:00:38,920 --> 01:00:44,840
place his gun against Maximilian's
chest and shoot him point blank.
736
01:00:47,200 --> 01:00:49,800
The face of this final soldier
is actually
737
01:00:49,800 --> 01:00:56,480
a lightly disguised portrait
of Napoleon III himself. Manet
738
01:00:56,480 --> 01:01:02,400
is accusing his emperor of being
personally responsible for all this.
739
01:01:02,400 --> 01:01:04,760
Even more brilliantly,
740
01:01:04,760 --> 01:01:07,920
you see this shadow here?
741
01:01:07,920 --> 01:01:10,000
Who's casting that?
742
01:01:10,000 --> 01:01:11,880
Where does it come from?
743
01:01:11,880 --> 01:01:15,800
The only possible answer
is from out here.
744
01:01:15,800 --> 01:01:18,200
We're the ones that are casting it.
745
01:01:18,200 --> 01:01:21,720
And that's the point.
Whoever looks at this scene
746
01:01:21,720 --> 01:01:26,120
is being accused of being there
and doing nothing.
747
01:01:29,400 --> 01:01:35,680
This act of immense pictorial daring
lifts this great war painting
748
01:01:35,680 --> 01:01:38,680
into the realms of
an historical masterpiece.
749
01:01:40,360 --> 01:01:46,240
Manet's Death of Maximilian
is apportioning universal blame,
750
01:01:46,240 --> 01:01:50,720
and this deliberate entanglement
of the man in the street
751
01:01:50,720 --> 01:01:55,920
with a faraway moment of history
was new and modern.
752
01:02:01,480 --> 01:02:05,120
Perversely, the only place
the painting was actually shown
753
01:02:05,120 --> 01:02:10,600
was America, where it went on a
rather desultory tour in the 1870s.
754
01:02:10,600 --> 01:02:15,000
In France, it was never exhibited
because it was censored.
755
01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:20,640
So it was only after Manet's death
that we finally found out
what he'd been up to.
756
01:02:25,680 --> 01:02:29,760
History didn't like Napoleon III
much either, or so it seemed.
757
01:02:29,760 --> 01:02:37,160
Because in 1870, it arranged for him
to go to war with the Prussians.
758
01:02:37,160 --> 01:02:40,840
And that was a battle the Little
Emperor was never going to win.
759
01:02:43,200 --> 01:02:46,360
The Franco-Prussian War
didn't last long.
760
01:02:46,360 --> 01:02:52,440
The French, with Napoleon
at their head, were no match
for Bismarck and the Germans.
761
01:02:52,440 --> 01:02:54,880
The fighting was quickly over.
762
01:02:54,880 --> 01:02:59,760
Here in Paris though,
the Prussians decided to starve
763
01:02:59,760 --> 01:03:04,640
the enemy into submission,
and that took much longer.
764
01:03:05,840 --> 01:03:12,080
Bismarck had predicted
that eight days without cafe au lait
would break the Parisians.
765
01:03:12,080 --> 01:03:14,640
But he was wrong.
766
01:03:16,440 --> 01:03:21,320
Paris held out for months. Manet
sent Suzanne off to the Pyrenees
767
01:03:21,320 --> 01:03:25,800
while he stayed behind bravely
as a gunner in the artillery.
768
01:03:25,800 --> 01:03:33,080
And this place, the Jardin des
Plantes, was to prove an invaluable
resource for the besieged Parisians,
769
01:03:33,080 --> 01:03:38,520
because pretty much everything in
here could be cooked and then eaten.
770
01:03:41,360 --> 01:03:45,520
On the 99th day of the siege,
the Christmas menu
771
01:03:45,520 --> 01:03:51,320
began with stuffed donkeys' heads
and elephant consomme,
772
01:03:51,320 --> 01:03:58,960
and progressed to roast camel,
kangaroo stew and wolf haunch
in antelope sauce.
773
01:04:00,880 --> 01:04:03,160
Bonjour.
774
01:04:03,160 --> 01:04:04,720
Lolly, s'il vous plait.
775
01:04:06,440 --> 01:04:11,480
The Manet family cat was eaten,
and the writer Theophile Gaultier
776
01:04:11,480 --> 01:04:16,520
describes a delicious new recipe
that everyone in Paris was trying.
777
01:04:16,520 --> 01:04:18,440
Rat pate.
778
01:04:22,040 --> 01:04:26,880
Although the siege of Paris was
historically crucial because it led
779
01:04:26,880 --> 01:04:30,280
at last to the overthrow
of Napoleon III,
780
01:04:30,280 --> 01:04:34,800
aesthetically, it triggered
nothing much in Manet's art.
781
01:04:34,800 --> 01:04:37,680
All he had time to scribble down
782
01:04:37,680 --> 01:04:44,760
was this grubby snow scene of Paris
during the siege. To keep in contact
783
01:04:44,760 --> 01:04:49,440
with the outside world, the French
began using hot air balloons.
784
01:04:49,440 --> 01:04:55,040
And the other great invention
of the times was the pigeon post.
785
01:04:55,040 --> 01:05:00,000
Manet's pigeon post letters to
Suzanne have survived, and they are,
786
01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:05,880
I suggest, the most important things
to come out of the siege.
787
01:05:08,120 --> 01:05:10,800
They're astonishingly tender.
788
01:05:10,800 --> 01:05:15,040
"I put pictures of you
all round the bedroom," he writes.
789
01:05:15,040 --> 01:05:19,320
"So every day, you're the first
and the last thing I see."
790
01:05:21,960 --> 01:05:24,280
On New Year's Day 1871,
791
01:05:24,280 --> 01:05:27,360
the pigeons carried a letter
from him to her
792
01:05:27,360 --> 01:05:30,080
regretting that for the first time
793
01:05:30,080 --> 01:05:35,320
since they'd met, he couldn't
give her a New Year's kiss.
794
01:05:35,320 --> 01:05:39,440
Manet is always presented as a cool,
795
01:05:39,440 --> 01:05:43,880
elegant, well-dressed
Parisian flaneur.
796
01:05:43,880 --> 01:05:46,720
And most of the time,
that's what he was.
797
01:05:46,720 --> 01:05:51,880
But among the secrets that he kept
so fiercely hidden from the world
798
01:05:51,880 --> 01:05:55,520
was the secret
of his own tenderness.
799
01:05:55,520 --> 01:06:00,040
This deep and warm love
he had for his wife.
800
01:06:00,040 --> 01:06:04,600
This sentimentality
he was capable of.
801
01:06:06,240 --> 01:06:09,480
It's an important insight,
because it helps us to notice
802
01:06:09,480 --> 01:06:12,520
how so many of the women in his art
803
01:06:12,520 --> 01:06:19,760
are having their vulnerability noted
by a caring and besotted male gaze.
804
01:06:19,760 --> 01:06:24,320
These are looks
that are often described as blank,
805
01:06:24,320 --> 01:06:28,560
but there's nothing
blank about them at all.
806
01:06:30,240 --> 01:06:34,160
Many beautiful women
passed through Manet's art.
807
01:06:34,160 --> 01:06:36,480
He was a notorious charmer.
808
01:06:36,480 --> 01:06:39,440
Witty, handsome, clever.
809
01:06:39,440 --> 01:06:43,080
Women liked him,
and he repaid their interest
810
01:06:43,080 --> 01:06:47,440
by putting them in his pictures
and making them irresistible.
811
01:06:49,760 --> 01:06:51,840
This dark beauty here,
812
01:06:51,840 --> 01:06:58,680
Berthe Morisot, was particularly
taken with him, and he with her.
813
01:06:58,680 --> 01:07:02,080
He painted her 11 times,
814
01:07:02,080 --> 01:07:07,320
and never failed to respond to
her dark, smouldering beauty.
815
01:07:09,280 --> 01:07:12,400
The Morisots were the same
social class as the Manets.
816
01:07:12,400 --> 01:07:15,120
Well-to-do upper bourgeoisie.
817
01:07:15,120 --> 01:07:21,400
And just as I would send my
daughters to have music lessons,
so they sent their daughters to have
818
01:07:21,400 --> 01:07:26,360
art lessons, and Berthe decided
to become a painter,
819
01:07:26,360 --> 01:07:30,120
which was unusual
for a young woman at the time.
820
01:07:30,120 --> 01:07:37,400
She met Manet some time
at the end of the 1860s, and he
promptly put her into his art.
821
01:07:40,880 --> 01:07:45,960
This famous painting, Le Balcon,
has been invented twice.
822
01:07:45,960 --> 01:07:52,680
Once by Goya in the 18th century,
and again by Manet a century later.
823
01:07:52,680 --> 01:07:57,120
In both their cases,
the balcony above the street houses
824
01:07:57,120 --> 01:08:02,880
an unreachable beauty, a femme
fatale who is too high to touch.
825
01:08:03,880 --> 01:08:11,560
Something about Berthe Morisot
reminded Manet of the Goya woman -
dark-eyed, sexy.
826
01:08:11,560 --> 01:08:15,200
So he recreated Goya's
painting and put her up here,
827
01:08:15,200 --> 01:08:17,320
where we just can't reach her.
828
01:08:19,280 --> 01:08:25,040
It's obvious that she got to him,
but he was married
and considerably older.
829
01:08:25,040 --> 01:08:30,000
So art historians have tied
themselves into exquisite knots
830
01:08:30,000 --> 01:08:34,040
trying to decide
whether they actually had an affair.
831
01:08:35,520 --> 01:08:39,720
It's clear from her letters
that she hero-worshipped Manet.
832
01:08:39,720 --> 01:08:45,840
She fell into depressions
when he wasn't there, and went
through intense anorexic phases.
833
01:08:45,840 --> 01:08:52,360
When you look at his pictures of
her, you feel you're intruding
on a private relationship.
834
01:08:54,840 --> 01:08:59,680
Berthe Morisot went on to marry
Manet's brother, Eugene,
835
01:08:59,680 --> 01:09:04,960
so she could finally sign herself
Mrs E. Manet.
836
01:09:04,960 --> 01:09:09,840
My own view is that theirs was
an unconsummated passion,
837
01:09:09,840 --> 01:09:13,960
full of frustrated desire
on both sides.
838
01:09:13,960 --> 01:09:18,600
In real life,
it must have been rather painful.
839
01:09:18,600 --> 01:09:24,880
But in artistic terms,
it brought such a sizzle
to his portrayals of her.
840
01:09:28,200 --> 01:09:30,760
Morisot did something else
for Manet.
841
01:09:30,760 --> 01:09:34,920
As a painter herself,
she was soon to be involved
with the Impressionists,
842
01:09:34,920 --> 01:09:41,560
and her example was to have
a delicate impact on Manet's touch.
843
01:09:41,560 --> 01:09:46,040
He never became a proper
Impressionist himself, as we'll see.
844
01:09:46,040 --> 01:09:51,840
But he came close, and that was due,
in some part, to her.
845
01:09:58,760 --> 01:10:02,120
You see those big red windows
up on the first and second floor?
846
01:10:02,120 --> 01:10:06,720
Something exceptionally important
in art happened up there.
847
01:10:06,720 --> 01:10:11,000
Because that's
where Impressionism was born.
848
01:10:12,160 --> 01:10:17,080
In April 1874,
a group of disaffected artists
849
01:10:17,080 --> 01:10:24,480
decided they'd had enough of being
rejected by the Paris Salon, so they
organised their own exhibition.
850
01:10:27,040 --> 01:10:29,520
It was a chaotic affair.
851
01:10:29,520 --> 01:10:33,960
The photographer Nadar had been
using the space as a studio,
852
01:10:33,960 --> 01:10:38,400
but it had got too expensive
for him and Nadar was moving on.
853
01:10:38,400 --> 01:10:44,800
In the meantime,
he was happy to let the disaffected
artists put on a show in there.
854
01:10:48,800 --> 01:10:53,240
The artists gave themselves
an impressive sounding name -
855
01:10:53,240 --> 01:10:58,720
La Societe Anonyme
Des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs.
856
01:10:58,720 --> 01:11:01,160
And on April 15th 1874,
857
01:11:01,160 --> 01:11:07,680
they opened the doors of Nadar's
studio to the paying public.
858
01:11:07,680 --> 01:11:10,720
There were 30 artists in the show.
859
01:11:10,720 --> 01:11:14,600
Ten of the pictures
were by someone called Degas.
860
01:11:14,600 --> 01:11:19,680
There was another nine by
a man called Monet.
861
01:11:19,680 --> 01:11:24,520
Three by a certain Cezanne,
and five by Pissarro.
862
01:11:24,520 --> 01:11:30,200
The entrance fee was one franc, and
by the end of the day, 175 people
863
01:11:30,200 --> 01:11:34,840
could be bothered to climb up there
and see what was inside.
864
01:11:36,480 --> 01:11:38,800
No-one liked it much.
865
01:11:38,800 --> 01:11:42,040
The reviews were coruscating.
866
01:11:42,040 --> 01:11:45,280
A particularly
cynical reviewer, Louis Leroy,
867
01:11:45,280 --> 01:11:48,800
picked out a moody picture by Monet,
868
01:11:48,800 --> 01:11:54,840
painted of Le Havre at dawn,
and called Impression Sunrise.
869
01:11:54,840 --> 01:11:59,240
"This bunch," he chuckled,
"are just Impressionists."
870
01:11:59,240 --> 01:12:01,920
The name stuck, and from now on,
871
01:12:01,920 --> 01:12:05,520
the bunch would be known as
"the Impressionists."
872
01:12:07,160 --> 01:12:09,240
Manet wasn't in the show.
873
01:12:09,240 --> 01:12:13,480
The others kept badgering him
to join, but he refused.
874
01:12:13,480 --> 01:12:19,400
Altogether, the Impressionists
had eight exhibitions, and Manet
wasn't doing any of them.
875
01:12:19,400 --> 01:12:25,480
"I will never exhibit
in the shack next door,"
he explained to Degas, haughtily.
876
01:12:25,480 --> 01:12:28,680
"I enter the Salon
through the front door."
877
01:12:32,800 --> 01:12:36,360
But the Salon didn't want him,
as usual.
878
01:12:36,360 --> 01:12:39,480
Half his pictures were rejected.
879
01:12:39,480 --> 01:12:45,520
And the attentions of
this new gang of admirers
began to seem rather appealing.
880
01:12:47,040 --> 01:12:52,120
Manet usually spent the summer
by the sea. But in 1874,
881
01:12:52,120 --> 01:12:54,720
he decided to stay in Paris,
882
01:12:54,720 --> 01:12:58,360
painting in and around
his family lands,
883
01:12:58,360 --> 01:13:02,200
with that Impressionist chap, Monet.
884
01:13:06,840 --> 01:13:10,160
Manet had known Monet
for several years.
885
01:13:10,160 --> 01:13:16,480
And you know that confusion
that people still feel today
between Monet and Manet?
886
01:13:16,480 --> 01:13:21,320
Well, it was always there. The first
time that Monet showed at
the Paris Salon,
887
01:13:21,320 --> 01:13:27,280
in the same room as Manet
in 1865, Manet was appalled
888
01:13:27,280 --> 01:13:34,400
and accused Monet of deliberately
using the similarity between their
names to get himself noticed.
889
01:13:35,960 --> 01:13:39,080
But after this shaky beginning,
their friendship flourished.
890
01:13:39,080 --> 01:13:45,240
Monet said Manet
is the "Raphael of water."
891
01:13:45,240 --> 01:13:51,720
Their relationship was based on two
things, mutual respect and money.
892
01:13:51,720 --> 01:13:58,520
Manet was forever lending cash
to the impoverished Monet,
and Monet was forever asking for it.
893
01:14:02,160 --> 01:14:08,200
In the fine summer of 1874,
Manet and Monet explored the river
together.
894
01:14:09,680 --> 01:14:13,960
Monet had rigged up this
floating studio for himself,
895
01:14:13,960 --> 01:14:17,120
a rowing boat with a makeshift
tarpaulin for a cabin.
896
01:14:18,200 --> 01:14:25,160
Manet painted him at work there,
while Madame Monet sat fretfully
at the back avoiding the sun.
897
01:14:27,000 --> 01:14:34,360
Manet had worked outdoors before,
on the beach, by the sea,
but never as keenly as he did during
898
01:14:34,360 --> 01:14:38,280
this great Impressionist summer
of his on the banks of the Seine.
899
01:14:41,600 --> 01:14:45,920
It was as if he was taking the
Impressionists on at their own game,
900
01:14:45,920 --> 01:14:49,480
showing them all
how it should be done.
901
01:14:52,440 --> 01:14:56,280
The most ambitious painting he did
was a view from here,
902
01:14:56,280 --> 01:15:00,840
with Argenteuil
on the other side of the river.
903
01:15:00,840 --> 01:15:05,320
It shows one of his wife's brothers,
Rudolph Leenhoff, flirting
904
01:15:05,320 --> 01:15:11,000
on the river bank with a local
floozy he'd picked up at a dance.
905
01:15:11,000 --> 01:15:13,240
We don't know her name.
906
01:15:13,240 --> 01:15:19,520
We just know that she was a femme de
plaisir, and a frequent visitor
to the local dance halls.
907
01:15:21,800 --> 01:15:29,120
When Manet showed his view of
Argenteuil at the next Salon,
the critics rounded on him again
908
01:15:29,120 --> 01:15:35,720
and had a particularly good laugh
at the Mediterranean blue
with which he'd painted the Seine.
909
01:15:35,720 --> 01:15:39,160
And it's true, there's not
much blue outside there today.
910
01:15:39,160 --> 01:15:43,320
But get the sun in the right place,
and turn up here at the right
911
01:15:43,320 --> 01:15:48,600
time of day, and you'll see
that Manet was painting the truth.
912
01:15:48,600 --> 01:15:52,400
And you'll see all this
coming to life.
913
01:15:56,320 --> 01:16:02,400
It isn't really the weather
that interests him,
or the play of light on the water.
914
01:16:02,400 --> 01:16:09,880
Surely what interests Manet more
is the relationship
between the couples.
915
01:16:09,880 --> 01:16:17,240
The picture they paint of the
modern world, and its impact on the
friendship between men and women.
916
01:16:19,320 --> 01:16:25,760
I came across an amusing cartoon the
other day on the front cover of a
satirical magazine, and it showed
917
01:16:25,760 --> 01:16:31,880
Manet wearing a wobbly crown and
holding a vivid palette in his hand.
918
01:16:31,880 --> 01:16:35,920
The headline was,
"The King of Impressionism."
919
01:16:35,920 --> 01:16:38,840
Because that's what
everybody thought he was.
920
01:16:42,800 --> 01:16:44,880
But he wasn't really.
921
01:16:44,880 --> 01:16:51,160
The modern life that Manet painted
wasn't carefree enough
to be impressionist.
922
01:16:51,160 --> 01:16:56,000
That summer, he'd begun feeling
pains in his legs.
923
01:16:56,000 --> 01:16:58,280
Walking had begun to hurt.
924
01:16:58,280 --> 01:17:03,520
And although he didn't know it yet,
the terrible truth was
925
01:17:03,520 --> 01:17:07,200
that just like his father,
he'd contracted syphilis.
926
01:17:10,840 --> 01:17:14,000
It was extremely prevalent.
Of course, in the 19th century,
927
01:17:14,000 --> 01:17:16,840
it was an incurable condition,
it was a major cause of
928
01:17:16,840 --> 01:17:19,280
nervous system problems,
929
01:17:19,280 --> 01:17:22,400
and a major cause of
skin problems in France.
930
01:17:22,400 --> 01:17:26,240
There were whole hospitals dedicated
to the treatment of syphilis.
931
01:17:26,240 --> 01:17:29,320
So people were aware, were they,
of what they were dealing with?
932
01:17:29,320 --> 01:17:32,120
They knew it was a sexually
transmitted disease? They did.
933
01:17:32,120 --> 01:17:37,840
It was like a physical manifestation
of a kind of moral problem, so it had
a mythology that grew up around it,
934
01:17:37,840 --> 01:17:44,160
it almost was a punishment for
behaviour that was considered
to be inappropriate at the time.
935
01:17:44,160 --> 01:17:48,640
With Manet,
the initial symptoms were
that he just felt pains in his legs?
936
01:17:48,640 --> 01:17:53,320
That's right. It sounds very much
like he had a condition called
tabes dorsalis,
937
01:17:53,320 --> 01:17:59,120
which is where syphilis
affects the spine, particularly the
back part of the spine which controls
938
01:17:59,120 --> 01:18:03,080
movement in the legs. That might be
why he had to use a cane
all the time?
939
01:18:03,080 --> 01:18:06,840
Absolutely, and one of the
characteristic problems that
people with syphilis get
940
01:18:06,840 --> 01:18:13,640
when it starts affecting their
legs is that they are unable to
balance without using visual cues.
941
01:18:13,640 --> 01:18:16,680
You become unsteady on your feet
and more likely to fall.
942
01:18:16,680 --> 01:18:23,160
Manet seems to have been in, well, I
suppose the modern phrase for it is
in denial about what he had, because
943
01:18:23,160 --> 01:18:29,680
right to the very end,
he just refused to accept that
his condition was incurable.
944
01:18:29,680 --> 01:18:36,000
Absolutely. And up until penicillin
came along, it WAS incurable.
945
01:18:37,160 --> 01:18:39,200
We don't know where he got it.
946
01:18:39,200 --> 01:18:42,480
We don't know who he
got it from, or when.
947
01:18:42,480 --> 01:18:49,080
But we do know
how grimly it began to affect him,
now that he was in his 40s.
948
01:18:54,440 --> 01:18:57,720
Manet was too ill now
to get out much.
949
01:18:57,720 --> 01:19:03,560
He stopped frequenting the cafes
where he'd gone to gossip about art.
950
01:19:03,560 --> 01:19:06,840
The range of new urban pleasures
still open to him
951
01:19:06,840 --> 01:19:11,720
was whittled down to two.
The first of these
952
01:19:11,720 --> 01:19:17,920
was the company of beautiful
young women, who passed through
his studio and whom he'd paint
953
01:19:17,920 --> 01:19:20,320
in a series of delightful,
954
01:19:20,320 --> 01:19:26,320
impressionistic renderings of the
perfect Parisian girl about town.
955
01:19:28,080 --> 01:19:28,240
And when he wasn't enjoying
the spectacle of beautiful women,
956
01:19:28,240 --> 01:19:31,800
Manet began painting a series of
gorgeous little still lifes.
957
01:19:37,520 --> 01:19:39,960
Just a few flowers in a vase,
958
01:19:39,960 --> 01:19:44,760
quick-fire evocations
of an imperishable spring.
959
01:19:46,840 --> 01:19:49,680
What Manet's friends
could never have suspected
960
01:19:49,680 --> 01:19:52,760
was that against all the odds,
961
01:19:52,760 --> 01:19:57,000
this man who was having such trouble
painting little flower studies
962
01:19:57,000 --> 01:20:01,800
still had one huge statement
in him.
963
01:20:01,800 --> 01:20:06,560
Manet surprised everyone
by somehow finding the strength
964
01:20:06,560 --> 01:20:11,600
and the ambition to produce
one final masterpiece.
965
01:20:16,840 --> 01:20:20,760
In 1869,
a new nightclub opened in Paris.
966
01:20:20,760 --> 01:20:24,880
It was where everyone went,
the new place to be.
967
01:20:24,880 --> 01:20:29,520
Its original name was the Folies
de Trevise, but the Duc de Trevise
968
01:20:29,520 --> 01:20:34,840
objected, so the name was changed
to the Folies-Bergere.
969
01:20:36,800 --> 01:20:38,840
Why did the Duke object?
970
01:20:38,840 --> 01:20:42,120
Because of what went on
at the Folies in those days.
971
01:20:42,120 --> 01:20:46,080
The flirting, the drinking,
the prostitution.
972
01:20:47,560 --> 01:20:50,640
Everyone paid two francs to get in.
973
01:20:50,640 --> 01:20:54,880
Young girls, old girls
and those in between.
974
01:20:54,880 --> 01:20:58,200
So the decadence here
was democratic.
975
01:21:00,440 --> 01:21:02,280
Manet was a regular visitor.
976
01:21:02,280 --> 01:21:06,080
He could lose himself in the smoke
and forget his illness.
977
01:21:06,080 --> 01:21:11,520
At the Folies-Bergere,
nobody noticed that he needed
a cane now to walk with.
978
01:21:11,520 --> 01:21:16,200
One night,
he encountered a particular barmaid.
979
01:21:16,200 --> 01:21:18,480
Her name was Suzon.
980
01:21:18,480 --> 01:21:22,800
Not Suzanne, but Suzon,
which was close enough for Manet.
981
01:21:22,800 --> 01:21:28,520
So he asked her to pose for him,
and painted her so memorably.
982
01:21:32,680 --> 01:21:38,600
The result
is perhaps his most involving
and thought-provoking picture.
983
01:21:38,600 --> 01:21:42,640
It hangs now at
the Courtauld Institute in London.
984
01:21:42,640 --> 01:21:46,760
And ever since it was painted
in the winter of 1882,
985
01:21:46,760 --> 01:21:50,960
people have puzzled over it.
986
01:21:50,960 --> 01:21:55,560
Suzon stands at the bar
and gazes sadly into space.
987
01:21:55,560 --> 01:21:57,360
At least, I think she's sad.
988
01:21:57,360 --> 01:22:01,520
Others disagree.
This elusive look on her face
989
01:22:01,520 --> 01:22:05,760
has been described as blank, bored,
990
01:22:05,760 --> 01:22:10,040
over-made up and even under-made up.
991
01:22:10,040 --> 01:22:12,240
There's no consensus.
992
01:22:14,080 --> 01:22:17,960
She's dressed in the typical
barmaid uniform of the Folies.
993
01:22:17,960 --> 01:22:22,560
Black bodice, frilly neckline,
except for these flowers
994
01:22:22,560 --> 01:22:24,760
across her decolletage.
995
01:22:24,760 --> 01:22:28,120
Those are unusual.
At the Folies-Bergere,
996
01:22:28,120 --> 01:22:33,240
the barmaids generally displayed
a little more of themselves.
997
01:22:33,240 --> 01:22:36,640
There's even
a naughty cartoon on the subject.
998
01:22:43,560 --> 01:22:49,000
So she's at the bar, and she's
serving a customer who's out here,
where I am.
999
01:22:49,000 --> 01:22:53,320
But as you can see, if I'm here
and the cameraman is behind me,
1000
01:22:53,320 --> 01:23:01,280
then the three of us form a horribly
confusing and ugly reflection,
overlapping and messy.
1001
01:23:01,280 --> 01:23:06,320
So Manet, in a brilliant
and fearless bit of
modern picture-making,
1002
01:23:06,320 --> 01:23:10,200
has actually moved the reflection
from behind Suzon,
1003
01:23:10,200 --> 01:23:14,440
where you can't see it,
to over here, where you can.
1004
01:23:16,200 --> 01:23:21,920
Bookloads of speculation
have been published
about this mysterious reflection.
1005
01:23:21,920 --> 01:23:25,920
But the simple truth is,
if it had stayed where it should be,
1006
01:23:25,920 --> 01:23:28,880
we couldn't have seen it.
1007
01:23:30,480 --> 01:23:36,360
In the reflection, Suzon is serving
a top-hatted chap with a moustache,
1008
01:23:36,360 --> 01:23:39,440
rather blurred and insubstantial.
1009
01:23:39,440 --> 01:23:45,320
He's been described as sinister,
but shadowy is a better word.
1010
01:23:45,320 --> 01:23:51,200
And of course, he is you,
in your Belle-Epoque form.
1011
01:23:52,920 --> 01:23:55,520
There are other details
to note as well.
1012
01:23:55,520 --> 01:23:59,000
Up in the corner,
a pair of dangling legs,
1013
01:23:59,000 --> 01:24:02,960
a trapeze artiste
is performing for the crowd.
1014
01:24:02,960 --> 01:24:06,840
Among the bottles, some Bass beer.
1015
01:24:06,840 --> 01:24:10,480
The Folies-Bergere was now popular
with English tourists.
1016
01:24:10,480 --> 01:24:13,280
What were they here for?
1017
01:24:13,280 --> 01:24:15,560
What can it all mean?
1018
01:24:15,560 --> 01:24:18,000
What are we being told?
1019
01:24:26,720 --> 01:24:32,360
The fact that so many people have so
many views about the Folies-Bergere
1020
01:24:32,360 --> 01:24:35,320
is proof of the painting's potency.
1021
01:24:35,320 --> 01:24:39,160
This is one of the greatest
masterpieces in London.
1022
01:24:39,160 --> 01:24:45,800
It never fails to set the emotions
whirling and the mind ticking.
1023
01:24:47,760 --> 01:24:52,520
My own view is that it's a simpler
painting than we usually admit.
1024
01:24:52,520 --> 01:24:59,880
Manet is showing us his tender
side again, that remarkable
empathy he had with modern women.
1025
01:25:01,520 --> 01:25:08,040
The shifted reflection
has become the barmaid's
outer reality, the world out here.
1026
01:25:08,040 --> 01:25:13,280
She, meanwhile, stands and dreams
in her inner reality,
1027
01:25:13,280 --> 01:25:16,520
cut off from us
in a world of her own.
1028
01:25:18,320 --> 01:25:24,440
Suzon is another of his Suzannes,
a female victim of the male gaze,
1029
01:25:24,440 --> 01:25:26,560
a casualty of the city.
1030
01:25:26,560 --> 01:25:32,720
And art historians
can twist themselves into as many
compositional knots as they want,
1031
01:25:32,720 --> 01:25:39,080
but they can't change the fact
that this is a painting about
a girl lost in her own thoughts.
1032
01:25:39,080 --> 01:25:46,240
Sad, exposed, vulnerable,
and therefore, so very modern.
1033
01:25:51,480 --> 01:25:55,320
The Folies-Bergere
was to be Manet's final masterpiece.
1034
01:25:55,320 --> 01:25:59,360
He had saved
his greatest fireworks till last.
1035
01:26:00,400 --> 01:26:05,640
The illness had now gotten so fierce
that he could no longer
stand up to paint.
1036
01:26:05,640 --> 01:26:07,680
The curtain was falling.
1037
01:26:07,680 --> 01:26:09,720
The play was done.
1038
01:26:13,400 --> 01:26:17,400
By the winter of 1882,
he could no longer move.
1039
01:26:17,400 --> 01:26:22,440
His leg had swollen up
into a giant, black mess.
1040
01:26:22,440 --> 01:26:29,240
Gangrene had set in,
and when the doctors touched
his toes, his nails fell off.
1041
01:26:29,240 --> 01:26:32,920
The only hope left was amputation.
1042
01:26:32,920 --> 01:26:36,160
So they cut his leg off
just below the knee.
1043
01:26:36,160 --> 01:26:39,440
But it was too late,
and it was clear
1044
01:26:39,440 --> 01:26:41,760
he only had days to live.
1045
01:26:47,200 --> 01:26:51,280
Manet wrote a hasty will,
leaving everything to Suzanne,
1046
01:26:51,280 --> 01:26:53,800
and adding the firm instruction
1047
01:26:53,800 --> 01:26:59,520
that on her death,
Leon was to inherit his estate.
1048
01:26:59,520 --> 01:27:02,760
It's the kind of thing you do
for a son, isn't it?
1049
01:27:02,760 --> 01:27:09,120
And although we'll never know for
sure if Leon was fathered by Manet,
or by Manet's father,
1050
01:27:09,120 --> 01:27:12,680
or by someone else entirely,
in the end,
1051
01:27:12,680 --> 01:27:15,960
this relationship between
a secretive painter
1052
01:27:15,960 --> 01:27:23,720
and the young man he painted
so often is surely a paternal one.
1053
01:27:27,560 --> 01:27:29,960
At least, that's what I thought
yesterday.
1054
01:27:29,960 --> 01:27:32,520
Today, I'm not so sure.
1055
01:27:32,520 --> 01:27:36,840
And tomorrow, I'll go back
to thinking it's the father again.
1056
01:27:36,840 --> 01:27:39,000
That's Manet for you.
1057
01:27:39,000 --> 01:27:40,840
Slippery as an eel.
1058
01:27:43,200 --> 01:27:47,480
As for his position as an artist,
I can't think of any painter
1059
01:27:47,480 --> 01:27:51,680
who was further ahead
of his own times than Manet.
1060
01:27:51,680 --> 01:27:54,080
Did he invent modern art?
1061
01:27:54,080 --> 01:27:58,440
No, of course not.
One man could never do that.
1062
01:27:58,440 --> 01:28:03,880
Did he punch a hole in the wall,
though, through which modernity
could pour?
1063
01:28:03,880 --> 01:28:06,520
Oh, yes, he did that all right.
1064
01:28:12,680 --> 01:28:15,880
The end came quietly,
in the middle of the evening.
1065
01:28:15,880 --> 01:28:21,160
He wasn't religious, so he waved
away the Archbishop of Paris,
1066
01:28:21,160 --> 01:28:24,360
who waited until Manet was comatose
1067
01:28:24,360 --> 01:28:29,040
before going against his wishes
and administering the last rites.
1068
01:28:31,520 --> 01:28:39,160
He died at seven o'clock
on April 30th, 1883, aged just 51.
1069
01:28:39,160 --> 01:28:42,680
He was buried here
at Passy Cemetery,
1070
01:28:42,680 --> 01:28:45,440
near Berthe Morisot's house.
1071
01:28:45,440 --> 01:28:51,120
His coffin was carried proudly
by Claude Monet and Emile Zola.
1072
01:28:51,120 --> 01:28:56,720
Degas, who was too old to help,
walked behind them
and could be heard to mutter,
1073
01:28:56,720 --> 01:29:01,080
"Il etait plus grand
que nous le croyons."
1074
01:29:01,080 --> 01:29:05,040
"He was greater than we thought."
1075
01:29:35,440 --> 01:29:37,520
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
1076
01:29:37,520 --> 01:29:39,480
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99960
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