Suzanne Manet (, ; ; 30 October 1829 – 8 March 1906) was a Dutch-born
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
and the wife of the painter
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
Bo ...
, for whom she frequently modeled.
Suzanne
![Edouard Manet Interiour in Arcachon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Edouard_Manet_Interiour_in_Arcachon.jpg)
An excellent pianist, Leenhoff was initially hired in 1851 by Manet's father, Auguste, as a piano teacher for Édouard and his brothers. Auguste was a domineering figure in Édouard's life, insisting that his son study law and avoid the arts. In their early twenties, Suzanne and Édouard developed a personal relationship and were romantically involved for some ten years. After Édouard left his parents' home, he and Suzanne lived together, although they kept their relationship discreet and secret, especially from Édouard's father. (Leenhoff may also have been Auguste's mistress.) Leenhoff gave birth out of wedlock to a son, Léon-Edouard Koëlla, on 29 January 1852. The birth certificate gave Leenhoff as the mother but "Koëlla" as the father, an individual never identified and likely invented. Léon was baptised in 1855, and became known as Suzanne's young brother.
Suzanne and Édouard were finally married in October 1863, a year after the death of Édouard's father.
[Manet 1832-1883, Françoise Cachin, p286.] Édouard never publicly confirmed Léon as his son.
Léon posed often for Édouard Manet. Most famously, he is the subject of the ''
Boy Carrying a Sword'' of 1861 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). He also appears as the boy carrying a tray in the background of ''
The Balcony
''The Balcony'' (french: Le Balcon) is a play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. It is set in an unnamed city that is experiencing a revolutionary uprising in the streets; most of the action takes place in an upmarket brothel that functions as a ...
''.
Portrait by Degas
![Degas - Das Ehepaar Manet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Degas_-_Das_Ehepaar_Manet.jpg)
Édouard Manet and
Edgar Degas met by chance at the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
in 1862, and after an intense conversation and Manet's demonstration on the art of etching, they became lifelong friends. Sometime in 1868 Degas painted a portrait of Manet and his wife. Manet is reclining on a couch and Suzanne appears to be seated at a piano. The mystery that surrounds the portrait by Degas is the fact that the painting has been slashed from top to bottom and right through the likeness of Suzanne. The supposition is that Manet, for an unknown reason, cut the painting. Manet might have slashed the painting because he did not like the way Suzanne was painted, or because he was feuding at the time with Degas, or he might have been angry with his wife. When Degas saw what had been done to his painting he demanded its return, and he took it back. Degas intended to re-paint the likeness of Suzanne at the piano and he reiterated his intention to
Ambroise Vollard in conversation with him around the turn of the century. Degas never got around to fixing the painting and it remains in its slashed state in the
Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art
The is located in Tobata-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Designed by Arata Isozaki, it sits on a hill straddling the three wards of Kokura Kita, Tobata, and Yahata Higashi
was a city in Japan until it was absorbed into the newly cr ...
in Japan.
[Manet 1832-1883, Paul-André Lemoisne, pp140-142.]NY Times, March 1992, ''ART; Degas and Mrs. Manet''
/ref>
Suzanne as a model
File:Édouard MANET - La Nymphe surprise - Google Art Project.jpg, Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
Bo ...
, '' The Startled Nymph'', 1859-1861
File:Edouard Manet 005.jpg, Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
Bo ...
, ''The Reading'', 1868
File:Edouard_Manet_Full-face_Portrait_of_Manets_Wife.jpg, Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
Bo ...
, ''Madame Manet'', Norton Simon Museum
The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California, United States. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds.
Overview
The Norton Si ...
, 1874-1876
File:Manet - Mme Manet im Gewaechshaus.JPG, Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
Bo ...
, ''Mme. Manet in The Greenhouse'', 1879
File:Edouard Manet 042.jpg, Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
Bo ...
, ''Mme. Manet, On A Blue Sofa'', c. 1880
File:Édouard Manet - Mme Édouard Manet dans le Jardin de Bellevue.jpg, Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
Bo ...
, ''Mme Manet in the garden of Bellevue,'' 1880, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
References
Further reading
* ''Suzanne en Edouard Manet: De liefde van een Hollandse pianiste en een Parijse schilder'' by :nl: Thera Coppens, 2014. , .
* Françoise Cachin
Françoise Cachin (8 May 1936, Paris – 4 February 2011, Paris) was a French art historian and curator. She was the founding director of the Musée d’Orsay and the author of numerous books on 19th-century French painting.
Life
Françoise ...
in collaboration with Michel Melot: ''Manet 1832–1883''. Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York 1983, .
*Jean Sutherland Boggs, Henry Loyrette, Michael Pantazzi, Gary Tinterow, ''Degas'', Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, New York 1988, .
* A. van Anrooy: ''Impromptu'' Zaltbommel 1982
* Otto Friedrich: ''Edouard Manet und das Paris seiner Zeit'' Kiepenheuer & Witsch 1994
* Nancy Locke: ''Manet and the Family Romance'' Princeton University Press 2001
* Gotthard Jedlicka: ''Manet'' Zürich 1941
* Toon van Kempen, Nicoline van de Beek ''Madame Manet'' Uitgeverij Het Archiefcollectief 2016
External links
Musée d'Orsay, Manet Dossier: chronology
Norton Simon Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manet, Suzanne
Dutch artists' models
French artists' models
Dutch emigrants to France
People from Delft
1829 births
1906 deaths
Dutch women pianists
19th-century French women classical pianists
Édouard Manet