Luncheon on the Grass by Edouard Manet Fleece Blanket

Luncheon on the Grass (Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe) by Edouard Manet, oil on canvas 1863, is a landscape painting of four persons having an afternoon picnic in a forest glade surrounded by dark trees and foliage. Art historians often cite the painting as the landmark beginning of modern art for its flattened forms, painterly technique, and "shocking" modern subject matter, and the picture elicited great controversy on its first showing. For the female subjects, Manet employed his famous model Victorine Meurent and wife Suzanne, vividly contrasting them against their male companions. The composition was transposed from a Renaissance engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi designed by Raphael, further stoking the notoriety of the painting. The stark contrasts of light and dark, sketchy painting technique, and matter of fact realism of the flattened composition mark Luncheon on the Grass as one of the most important paintings of the 19th century, influencing many subsequent generations of modern artists.