Édouard Manet

Prof. Dr Carl Bernstein, Berlin (acquired in Paris in 1882)
Max Liebermann, Berlin (acquired from the above by 1902)
Mrs Kurt Riezler, New York (née Liebermann, by descent from the above by 1948)
Private Collection, USA (by descent from the above. Sold: Sotheby's, New York, 13th November 1990, lot 28)
Acquired by the present owner in 1996

Paris, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Edouard Manet, 1884
Berlin, Galerie Matthiesen, Edouard Manet, 1928, no. 77, illustrated in the catalogue
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Honderd Jaar Fransche Kunst, 1938, no. 165
New York, Durand-Ruel, Still-Lifes from Manet to Picasso, 1944, no. 9
New York, Paul Rosenberg, Masterpieces by Manet, 1946-47, no. 10
New York, Wildenstein, Manet, 1948, no. 45
Gunma, The Museum of Modern Art, Impressionist and Modern Art, 1994, no. 40
Paris, Musée d'Orsay & Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, Manet, les natures mortes, 2000-01, no. 84, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Nara, Prefectural Museum of Art, Edouard Manet, 2001, no. 13, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Théodore Duret, Histoire d'Edouard Manet et de son œuvre, Paris, 1902, no. 323, p. 277
Ferdinand Laban, 'Im zwanzigsten Jahre nach Manets Tode', in Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, 1904, illustrated p. 28
Kunst und Künstler, February 1919, illustrated p. 230
Paul Jamot & Georges Wildenstein, Manet, Paris, 1932, vol. I, no. 542, catalogued pp. 183-184; vol. II, fig. 390, illustrated p. 191 (as dating from 1883)
Adolphe Tabarant, Manet et ses œuvres, Paris, 1947, no. 425, illustrated p. 616
Lionello Venturi, Impressionists and Symbolists, New York & London, 1950, illustrated fig. 17
Marcello Venturi & Sandra Orienti, L'Opera pittorica di Edouard Manet, Milan, 1967, no. 406, illustrated p. 120
Denis Rouart & Sandra Orienti, Tout l'œuvre peint de Manet, Paris, 1970, no. 412
Denis Rouart & Daniel Wildenstein, Edouard Manet, Catalogue raisonné, Lausanne & Paris, 1975, no. 426, illustrated p. 307
Robert Gordon & Andrew Forge, The Last Flowers of Manet, New York, 1986, illustrated in colour p. 27
Max Liebermann - Jahrhundertwende (exhibition catalogue), Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1997, illustrated p. 226

The canvas is wax-lined. There is a small area of retouching on the upper edge, a spot of retouching in the background, just to the left of the flowers, a few tiny spots of retouching by the lower edge, and some small spots and lines of retouching at the extreme framing edges, visible under ultra-violet light. Overall this work is in good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although the colours are overall softer, lighter and fresher in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'Still-life is the touchstone of the painter,' Manet concluded in the last years of his life, when his artistic attention was largely focused on the depiction of floral still-lifes. This resulted in a number of canvases, executed in the early 1880s, of a single vase of flowers on a marble surface, a motif that he used as an element in his grand composition, Le Bar aux Folies-Bergère (fig. 1). Manet's interest in still-lifes is well-noted throughout his career. He pronounced that  'a painter can say all he wants to with fruit or flowers' after seeing Renaissance examples in Venice in the 1860s, and he devoted one-fifth of his production to the genre alone. Even in Manet's most renowned figure paintings, the symbolic potential and importance of decorative objects was never far from his mind. Flowers, for example, play a powerful role in Olympia and the Woman with the Parrot, alluding to sensuality, pleasure, innocence and corruption. Themes of mortality must have been of central concern in 1882 when Manet painted the present work, which is a poignant and elegant manifestation of the preciousness of life.

Bouquet de pivoines is one of the more exquisite examples from this select group of floral still-lifes from the early 1880s, featuring a lush bouquet of red and pink blossoms in full bloom. George Mauner observed that peonies were presumably Manet's favourite flower because they were the exclusive subject of his first series of floral paintings in the 1860s. The present work, however, is the only example from the 1880s group that depicts peonies, which are arranged here in an Orientalist glass vase. Mauner wrote that 'this vase is decorated with an etched Japanese scene of a bridge and a figure holding a parasol. Another Asian motif, a golden dragon, appears on the six-faceted vase Manet used in several paintings, including his last one. He omitted it, oddly enough, from Vase of Flowers, White Lilacs [fig. 2], a rendering of the same vase filled with white lilacs. Possibly he viewed the vase from the other side in this example' (G. Mauner in Manet, The Still-Life Paintings, New York, 2001, p. 144).      

Considered the progenitor of the Impressionists and the father of modern painting, Manet astonished his contemporaries with his radical simplification of form and application of pure, luminous colour. His approach to still-lifes in particular revolutionised that genre, paving the way for the innovations of Cézanne, Braque, Picasso and Matisse. In the mid-nineteenth century Manet's paintings were considered atypical by those accustomed to the glazed, academic compositions shown at the annual Salon, so many perspicacious critics or friends were prompted to come to his defense. 'One's first impression of a picture by Edouard Manet is that it is a trifle "hard,"' wrote Emile Zola in 1867. 'One is not accustomed to seeing reproductions of reality so simplified and so sincere. But as I have said, they possess a certain still but surprising elegance. To begin with one's eye only notices broad patches of colour, but soon objects become more defined and appear in their correct place' (E. Zola, Edouard Manet, Revue du XX Siècle, 1867, reprinted in C. Harrison, P. Wood & J. Gaiger, Art in Theory, 1815-1900, An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Oxford, 1998, p. 554).

Zola's elementary instruction holds true in the analysis of the present painting, executed in 1882 at the end of Manet's life. During his last years Manet was inflicted with a crippling illness, only able to work on small canvases propped on an easel by his bed. The present composition was one of those that occupied him during that fragile time, and it exemplifies the elegance and freshness of colour from which the younger Impressionists drew their inspiration.

 

The first owner of this work was Carl Bernstein, a Russian-born professor of law who lived in Germany. In 1882 Bernstein acquired this still-life alongside another dozen or works, which were the first Impressionist paintings to be seen in Berlin. Around the turn of the twentieth century, he gave this work by Manet to the painter Max Liebermann, in exchange for a portrait of him by Liebermann. This work remained in Liebermann's family for many decades.

 

 

 

Fig. 1, Edouard Manet, Le Bar aux Folies-Bergère, 1882, oil on canvas, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London

Fig. 2 Edouard Manet, Lilas blanc dans un vase de verre, 1882-83, oil on canvas, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Fig. 3, Edouard Manet, Roses, œillets, pensées, 1882-83, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.