Manet
was born in Paris on 23 January, 1832, the eldest son
of a high official in the French Ministry. In 1848 he
failed the entrance exam to naval college. He subsequently
went to sea with the merchant marines to avoid studying
law, as his father wished. He became a painter against
his father's advice, joining the studio of the respected
academic painter Thomas Couture in 1850.
Though he remained with Couture for six years, Manet gained
his real knowledge of art during visits to Italy in 1853
and 1857, and to Germany and Holland in 1856. Those trips
exposed Manet to the same masters who had so profoundly
interpreted realism in the past: Hals, Velazquez and Goya.
Highly independent, and extraordinarily original in both
his unconventional portrayals of modern life and his spontaneous
brushwork, he struggled for academic acceptance throughout
his life. Although Manet was rebellious in his subject
matter, he craved official recognition, and this may be
why he never 'compromised' himself by exhibiting at any
of the Impressionist exhibitions. He claimed that he had
'no intention of overthrowing old methods of painting,
or creating new ones'.
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