Manet still life with grapes
... A quote by John Richardson still life grapes and figs 1864 Frank Jay Gould collection. ... Before we attempt to anaylse the meaning of whats within Edouard Manets work entitled still life, Grapes and figs, one must first identify , and note, the somewhat colorful events which occurred within the artist life, and note the way in which they must have led his work. Born in France in 1832, Manet was raised by his parents Auguste and Eugenie-Desiree a society couple, whos social standing resulted from Augustes successful career in the Ministry of Justice , Paris. ... It is thought by many that the importance of Augustes role in both society and the ministry actually intimidated the young Manet, who constantly aspired throughout his adult life, to gain the same level of reverence as that which his father possessed. ... It was during the late 1850s when Manet was serving as a naval cadet in Rio de Janeiro, that he met a number of slave girls, Manet had openly admitted in letters to his friends the extend to which he found their tropical beauty alluring. Yet, is was not until Manet returned to France that he reveled the true extent of his relationships with these girls, and confessed to the fact that he had been using his time to relate to the girls in an adult way. The answer lies in the artists life long ill-health, it was in fact Manet himself who first diagnosed although now medically proven to be wrong that the physical pain from which he suffered on a daily basis was the result of a syphilis virus contracted during one of his aforementioned youthful encounters, a misconception which haunted the artist throughout his life . Taking this point into consideration, you must therefore consider the psychological effects that Manets own feelings of guilt and regret concerning the cause of his illness, (And why he drew the grapes), and consider the effects that it had upon his life and his work, and thus in turn the way in which those feelings influenced his view of women as a whole, but particularly those of ill-repute. It is even considered by some that Manets still grapes helped him in his final piece composed almost in the form of his own life and as such, was a painting which assumed the right to be so controversial in content that it pushed at the very boundaries of conventionalism.