(English: ''Luncheon on the Grass'') is an 1865–1866 oil-on-canvas painting by

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

, produced in response to the 1863 work of the same title by

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, 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 (art movement), R ...

. It remains unfinished, but two large fragments (central and left panels) are now in the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

in Paris, while a smaller 1866 version is now in the

Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (, abbreviated as , ''GMII'') is the largest museum of European art in Moscow. It is located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The International musical festival Sviatos ...

in Moscow. Monet originally wanted to submit the painting to the Salon of 1866, but he underestimated how long it would take him to transfer his sketches to a life-size canvas, so it remained unfinished by the time of the exhibition. Monet later offered the large canvas of ''Déjeuner'' to his landlord in place of rent. When Monet bought it back from his landlord, it was badly damaged from the damp environment in which it was stored. Monet had to cut it up in order to preserve the non-damaged parts.

Description

The painting depicts twelve people clothed in the Parisian fashion of the time. They are having a picnic near a forest glade. The people are gathered around a white picnic blanket, surrounded by fruits, cake and wine. The mood in this natural space is primarily created by the play of light and shadow, caused by the

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

tree above them. Monet favored light-tone priming to help achieve the luminosity in his paintings. According to John House, the lighting in Monet's version of the scene resembles “sparkling light effects” of nature, which differs from Manet's original, which appears illuminated by studio light. While Monet’s painting was inspired by Manet, it carries a different message from the original work. Joel Isaacson observes that at the time the dream of every painter, according to

Emile Zola Emile or Émile may refer to: * Émile (novel) (1827), autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life * Emile, Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai * '' Emile: or, On Education'' (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a treatise o ...

, was to "put life-size figures in a landscape". According to Isaacson, Monet intended to paint the picnic in a contemporary and objective manner, thus avoiding “artificialities” in Manet’s version. John House similarly observes that Monet hoped to depict “freshness and immediacy” and he did so through having an informal figure grouping.

Influence

Many different paintings have been said to have influenced Monet's . Joel Isaacson believes that, in addition to being influenced by the original ''Déjeuner'', Monet also drew elements from Manet's '' Music in the Tuileries.'' Mary Gedo Matthews believes that in his painting Monet did not hope to pay homage to Manet but instead wanted to demonstrate that his vision was superior. Gedo also suggests that the artists' different approaches came from their dissimilar personalities and socioeconomic status. She notes that Manet took pride in distancing himself from public displays of emotions in his paintings, whereas Monet was more direct with his feelings. Gustave_Courbet_-_The_Hunt_Breakfast_-_WGA5468

Gustave_Courbet_-_The_Hunt_Breakfast_-_WGA5468

It is possible that some of

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...

’s work, such as '' The Hunt Breakfast'', influenced Monet as well. Gedo notes the similarity of the breakfast scenes depicted and the large scale of both paintings. Monet portrayed Courbet in the painting, as well as his dear friend

Bazille Bazille is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Auguste Bazille (1828–1879), French composer and organist * Frédéric Bazille Jean Frédéric Bazille (; December 6, 1841 – November 28, 1870) was a French Impressionist pai ...

, whom he depended on heavily and depicted four times in the original composition of the painting (as visible in the Moscow version), before it was cut up.

Stylistic elements

Monet's use of color is notable throughout the painting. He used bright accents on the dress in the left panel. André Dombrowski describes it as "an unnatural visual siren that pierces the overall harmony of the scene." According to Dombrowski, ''Déjeuner'' promotes both the feeling of sensory integration and an awareness of discrete pictorial units. The painting stands out through its bold and emphatic brushwork; Monet is known for having had nervous and intense brushwork. The

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter was too impatient to create a gradient, so there are large patches of light. According to Stephan Koja, Monet's techniques and style were intended to make the scene appear entirely in the present, modern and contemporary, without the use of tradition, in contrast to Manet’s approach.

Pushkin version

The version of the painting now in the

has often been considered a preparatory sketch for the final work. The Pushkin Museum, however, now states that this version is likely a later repetition of the finished work, based on the careful attention to detail and the presence of the artist's signature. The Pushkin version was in the collection of the opera singer

Jean-Baptiste Faure Jean-Baptiste Faure (; 15 January 1830 – 9 November 1914) was a French operatic baritone and art collector who also composed several classical songs. Singing career Faure was born in Moulins. A choirboy in his youth, he entered the Paris ...

for a time. It may have been exhibited at the 1900 exhibition of Monet's works at the

Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (; 31 October 1831 – 5 February 1922) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionism, Impressionists and the Barbizon school, Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, ...

Gallery.

Sergei Shchukin Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin (; 10 January 1936) was a Russian businessman who became an art collector, mainly of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. Early life and family Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin was born on in Moscow, one of ten c ...

bought the painting from the art dealer

Paul Cassirer Paul Cassirer (21 February 1871, in Görlitz – 7 January 1926, in Berlin) was a German art dealer and editor who played a significant role in the promotion of the work of artists of the Berlin Secession and of French Impressionists and Post-Im ...

sometime between 1901 and 1908. Shchukin's collection was seized by the

Soviet state The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the executive and administrative organ of the highest body of state authority, the All-Union Supreme Soviet. It was formed on 30 December 1922 and abolished on 26 December 199 ...

in May 1918, with ''Le Déjeuner'' initially going to the State Museum of New Western Art and then, from 1948, being hung in its present home.

References

External links

Catalogue entry
Musée d'Orsay {{DEFAULTSORT:Dejeuner sur l'herbe, Monet Paintings in the Musée d'Orsay Paintings by Claude Monet 1866 paintings Food and drink paintings Unfinished paintings Works about picnics Paintings in the Pushkin Museum Oil on canvas paintings