Favortie Works of Art - Manet

Edward Manet is often thought of as being the leader of the Impressionists in Paris.  This is considered to be his masterpiece, The Luncheon on the Grass, painted in 1862.  At the time it shocked an easily shockable audience with the blatant nakedness of the woman and the two well dressed "dandies" with her.  The lighting and the clothes suggest that it is in fact not an outside picture at all but one that was staged indoors.  The arrangement of the woman's clothes and the picnic basket in the foreground also adds to the feeling of it being posed inside.