Artist field note

Edouard Manet

The man who dragged painting into the present.

The Execution of Maximilian by Edouard Manet
Art Institute of Chicago · Public domainSource ↗

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The Execution of Maximilian

1867-1868

Contemporary political violence is treated with the scale once reserved for heroic history.

The five in one idea

Manet made contemporary life worthy of serious painting - and made painting conscious of its own conventions.