id: 119697
accession number: 1940.534
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1940.534
updated: 2024-03-26 01:57:41.958000
Boats at Berck-sur-Mer, 1873. Edouard Manet (French, 1832–1883). Oil on fabric; framed: 52.5 x 74 x 7 cm (20 11/16 x 29 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.); unframed: 34 x 55.8 cm (13 3/8 x 21 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1940.534
title: Boats at Berck-sur-Mer
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1873
creation date earliest: 1873
creation date latest: 1873
current location:
creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
copyright:
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culture: France, 19th century
technique: oil on fabric
department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
type: Painting
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Edouard Manet (French, 1832–1883) - artist
Born into a wealthy family, Édouard Manet was encouraged in his artistic curiosity by his uncle and often visited the Louvre with his college friend Antonin Proust. Initially, however, Manet wanted to pursue a naval career. It was not until he failed the entrance exams for the naval academy that he decided to pursue a career as an artist. In 1850 he entered the studio of Couture (q.v.), whose reputation had risen sharply after exhibiting his Romans of the Decadence (Salon 1847, Musée d'Orsay, Paris). Couture wanted to circumvent conventional academic training and combined traditional painting methods with new techniques-for example, allowing underpaint to form an intrinsic part of the final composition, which resulted in a sketchy appearance. Manet would absorb this technique into his work. He had no strict need to sell his artwork; rather, he longed for recognition as an artist. He responded to Charles Baudelaire's call to young artists to paint contemporary life rather than antiquity and take a distanced point of view, because, as Baudelaire stated in his article The Painter of Modern Life (published in Le Figaro, 1863), objectivity is more sincere and honest. In 1863 the Salon jury rejected more than half of the five thousand works submitted, including Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe (Musée d'Orsay, Paris). In response to the conservative jury of that year, Napoleon III, in an effort to appease the artists as well as discourage antigovernment sentiment, organized the Salon des Refusés, which took place in the Palais des Champs-Élysées two weeks after the opening of the official Salon. The painting caused a formidable succès de scandale both for its technique and subject matter. The majority of the people failed to understand that the artist wanted to translate the conventions of the Old Masters into a new idiom that would reflect contemporary society. Two years later the scandal was repeated when Manet's Olympia (Musée d'Orsay, Paris) was accepted into the Salon of 1865. This time the jury was more lenient because fewer academicians were among its members. Even though his work often received severe criticism, Manet continued to submit works to the Salon, which he felt was the only legitimate place to compete and prove himself as an artist. At the time of the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1867, Manet, following Courbet's (q.v.) lead set in 1855, organized his own pavilion next to the Exposition where he showed more than fifty paintings. Émile Zola, the French writer and critic who may have collaborated with Manet in writing the preface for his one-man exhibition, recognized his talent and modernity. Zola rejected academic painting of the day, including Alexandre Cabanel's (1823-1889) The Birth of Venus (Musée d'Orsay, Paris), which not only won the gold medal at the Salon of 1863 but was purchased by Napoleon III. Zola vehemently defended Manet against harsh criticism and exalted him as the greatest painter of the nineteenth century. Manet painted a portrait of Zola (Salon 1868, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) that reflected the artist's interest in Japanese prints as well as photography. By the 1870s Manet's palette had lightened and his brushwork became freer and more sketchy. These new features in his painting technique may have resulted from his contact with the younger impressionist group that began exhibiting as such in 1874. Although Manet was friendly with its members and sympathized with their goals, he never exhibited with them and continued to show his paintings at the official Salon. Manet was truly innovative in depicting subjects of urban life. However, during his lifetime he enjoyed little support, and it was not until the impressionists gained general recognition that Manet was acknowledged as a truly modern painter. Henri Matisse (1869-1954) would express his immense admiration for Manet as follows: "He was the first to act by reflex, thus simplifying the painter's métier, . . . Manet was direct as could be."1
1. Matisse in L'Intransigeant (25 January 1932), cited in Manet 1832-1883, 18.
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measurements: Framed: 52.5 x 74 x 7 cm (20 11/16 x 29 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 34 x 55.8 cm (13 3/8 x 21 15/16 in.)
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inscription: Signed lower left: Manet
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition
opening date: 1936-06-26T04:00:00
The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).
title: The Silver Jubilee Exhibition
opening date: 1941-06-23T04:00:00
The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
title: French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections
opening date: 1942-01-06T05:00:00
French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 6-February 15, 1942).
title: 19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans
opening date: 1943-06-22T04:00:00
19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 1, 1943).
title: Impressionists and their Forebears from Barbizon
opening date: 1961-03-08T05:00:00
Impressionists and their Forebears from Barbizon. Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts, Dallas, TX (organizer) (March 8-April 2, 1961).
title: Édouard Manet
opening date: 1966-11-03T05:00:00
Édouard Manet. Philadelphia Museum of Art (organizer) (November 3-December 11, 1966); The Art Institute of Chicago (January 13-February 19, 1967).
title: Impressionism: French and American
opening date: 1967-10-02T04:00:00
Impressionism: French and American. Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK (organizer) (October 2-November 26, 1967).
title: Manet and the Civil War
opening date: 2003-06-03T00:00:00
Manet and the Civil War. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (June 3-August 17, 2003).
title: Manet and the Sea
opening date: 2003-10-19T00:00:00
Manet and the Sea. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (organizer) (October 19, 2003-January 4, 2004); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (February 8-May 9, 2004); Van Gogh Museum, 1070 AJ Amsterdam, Netherlands (June 18-October 10, 2004).
title: Edouard Manet
opening date: 2017-10-24T04:00:00
Edouard Manet. Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, Germany (organizer) (October 24, 2017-February 25, 2018).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': 'Paris, Bernheim-Jeune. Manet: Trente-cinq tableaux de la Collection Pellerin (1910), no. 3, Marine, période 1873-1874, no. 164 du catalogue Duret.', 'opening_date': '1910-01-01T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'cma. French Paintings of the Later XIX th Century (1921), no cat., lent by Ralph M. Coe.', 'opening_date': '1921-01-01T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute; cma, Exhibition of Paintings-Édouard Manet, Pierre Renoir, Berthe Morisot (1924-25), no. 18, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph M. Coe.', 'opening_date': '1924-01-01T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'cma. Catalogue of the Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art (1936), no. 287.', 'opening_date': '1936-01-01T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Art Institute of Zanesville (Ohio). French Paintings (1944), no cat.', 'opening_date': '1944-01-01T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Coral Gables, Lowe Art Gallery of the University of Miami; Athens, University of Georgia. French Exhibition (1952), no cat.', 'opening_date': '1952-01-01T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts. Impressionists and Their Forebears from Barbizon (1961), no. 44, 16 (repr.).', 'opening_date': '1961-01-01T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Philadelphia Museum of Art; Art Institute of Chicago. Édouard Manet (1966-67), no. 119 (repr.).', 'opening_date': '1966-01-01T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Tulsa, Oklahoma, Philbrook Art Center. French and American Impressionism (1967), no. 5.', 'opening_date': '1967-01-01T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Metropolitan Musuem of Art (6/3/2003 - 8/17/2003): "Manet and the Civil War"', 'opening_date': '2003-06-03T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Art Institute of Chicago (10/19/2003 - 1/4/2004); Philadelphia Museum of Art (2/8/2004 - 5/9/2004); Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (6/18/2004 - 9/26/2004): "Manet and the Sea" exh. cat. no. 38, p. 127.', 'opening_date': '2003-10-19T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, Germany (10/24/2017 - 2/25/2018): "Edward Manet"', 'opening_date': '2017-10-24T00:00:00'}
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PROVENANCE
Portier, Paris. Eugène Blot, Paris. Bernheim Jeune, Paris. Auguste Pellerin, Paris by 1910. Baron Denys Cochin. His sale, Paris, Georges Petit, 26 March 1919 (lot 17), to Léon Payen, Paris, for ff 30,000. Ralph M. Coe, Cleveland. Purchased by the Cleveland Museum of Art in November 1940.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page number: Reproduced: p. 172
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n196
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page number: Reproduced: p. 172
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n196
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page number: Reproduced: p. 213
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n233
Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 411-412, Vol. II, no. 142
url:
Finckh, Gerhard. Edouard Manet. Wuppertal, Germany : Von der Heydt-Museum, 2017.
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1940.534/1940.534_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1940.534/1940.534_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1940.534/1940.534_full.tif