Chapter 7 heretics become heroes

Impressionist master Manet, when he exhibited his paintings for the first time, was criticized for not being able to use his brush carefully. When the French Impressionist Manet exhibited his famous Picnic on the Grass for the first time at the Lost Salon in 1863, he was ridiculed and ridiculed by everyone.According to the French painting tradition, painting should ideally depict ancient or biblical stories, or present classical nude beauty.It was the painting principle at that time that a painter was obsessed with the sand and gravel of ancient Egypt while turning a blind eye to the scenery of his own country.

Dissatisfied with this tradition, Manet painted several people having a picnic on the grass in the painting. The men wore ordinary clothes, and the women were nude but not the traditional nude.In short, what he painted were real people who could be seen everywhere in the society at that time.But to make matters worse, he applied bright colors side by side on the canvas instead of following the traditional method of light and dark. As soon as the painting was shown in public, Manet was immediately criticized as an unbalanced and uncultured rebel. Some even said that he could not handle the brush carefully, and the characters in the painting were clumsy and distorted.In the outrage, the salon manager had to take protective measures to prevent Manet from being harmed.Not only his paintings, but Manet himself was vilified. In the street or in public, people looked at him as if he were a monster, a madman or a barbarian.

It can be said that Manet was unprepared for these reactions of the world. In fact, apart from his revolutionary art, Manet was not rebellious at all.On the contrary, he is a very proper bourgeois gentleman, his steady, elegant, well-groomed, well-known in the circle of friends.Manet just hoped that the society would accept him and recognize him as a good painter. But if society immediately accepted him and recognized him, he would not be a prophet.Later, a group of young painters such as Cézanne, Morissot, Renoir, Monet, etc. admired Manet's painting style and regarded him as a leading figure, and began to paint with his bright colors and the style of drawing directly from nature.In 1874, Impressionism, an Art Nouveau style that replaced the traditional style, was officially born under the impetus of Manet.

The progress of mankind is the history of heretics becoming heroes.