Fish (Still Life)1864
This painting, like many of Manet’s still lifes, recalls 17th-century Dutch models. More about this work
About this work
This painting, like many of Manet’s still lifes, recalls 17th-century Dutch models. The directness of execution, bold brushwork, and immediacy of vision, however, suggest why the public found Manet’s work so unorthodox and confrontational. While this painting depicts “dead nature” ( nature morte is French for still life), there is nothing still about the work: the produce seems fresh and the handling of the paint vigorous.
Text from the Art Institute of Chicago.
What you’re looking at
Still-life painting, fish, open oysters, eel, lemon on tablecloth.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Édouard Manet
French, 1832–1883 · Born and died in Paris.
Manet came from a prosperous Parisian family, trained under Thomas Couture and studied the old masters, Velázquez above all. In the 1860s he provoked critics with Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe and Olympia, modern subjects painted in flat, frank colour with little modelling. Though he never showed with the Impressionists, younger painters looked to him as a leader, and in his last years he painted Parisian café life and A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1942.311
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Painting
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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