1832— January 23: Born to Auguste Manet and Eugénie-Désirée Fournier at 5
Rue des Petits-Augustins, Paris fig 1.
1839— Louis Daguerre exhibits the first “daguerreotypes”
1844–48— Studies at the Collège Rollin where he meets lifelong friend Antonin
Proust
1849— Meets Suzanne Leenhoff, who gives piano lessons to Manet’s brothers;
she subsequently becomes his mistress fig 2.
fig 1. Carolus-Duran, Portrait of
Édouard Manet, 1877
1850–56— Works in the studio of Thomas Couture (1815–1879) on the Rue Laval
1851— Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte becomes Emperor Napoléon III, commencing
the Second Empire
1852— January 29: Birth of Suzanne Leenhoff’s illegitimate son Léon-Édouard
Koëlla Leenhoff fig 3.; July: Manet travels to the Netherlands where he
visits the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam
fig 2. Mme Manet at the Piano, 1868
1853— Summer: Visits Normandy with Couture’s students; September: Travels
to Florence and Venice
1856— Travels to Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, and Italy; takes a studio
on the Rue Lavoisier
1857— Meets artist Henri Fantin-Latour at the Louvre; November: Visits Italy
1858— Meets poet Charles Baudelaire
fig 3. Boy Blowing Bubbles
[Léon Leenhoff], 1867
1859— First submission to the Salon, The Absinthe Drinker, is rejected; meets artist Edgar Degas at the Louvre; moves to a studio on the Rue de la Victoire
1860— Uses a studio on the Rue de Douai; frequents the Café Tortoni and Café
de Bade
1861— Sets up his studio on the Rue Guyot
fig 4. Victorine Meurent, about 1862
1862— September: Death of Manet’s father; meets professional model Victorine
Meurent and asks her to pose fig 4.
1863— May: Opening of the Salon des Refusés, where six paintings by Manet
rejected by the Salon jury are exhibited, including Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe
(Luncheon on the Grass) fig 5.; October 28: Marries Suzanne Leenhoff in
Zaltbommel, the Netherlands
fig 5. Le déjeuner sur l’herbe,
1863. Musée d’Orsay,
Paris. Not in exhibition.
1864— November: Moves into an apartment at 34 Boulevard
des Batignolles
1865— May: Olympia fig 6 exhibited at the Salon where the unidealized nude
causes a scandal; End of August/early September: Travels to Spain
and meets collector and critic Théodore Duret in Madrid
1866— April: Salon jury rejects The Tragic Actor fig 7; May: Émile Zola
defends Manet in his review of the Salon; the public confuses
Manet and Claude Monet; introduced to Monet and Paul Cézanne;
September: The Café Guerbois at 11 Grande rue des Batignolles
(today 9 Avenue de Clichy) becomes the favorite meeting place of
Manet and his friends
fig 6. Olympia, 1863. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
Not in exhibition.
1867— January 1: Zola publishes “A New Style in Painting: M. Edouard
Manet” in L’Artiste: Revue du XIXe siècle
1868— May: Portrait of Émile Zola fig 8 exhibited at the Salon; Late July/
early August: Visits London; meets artist Berthe Morisot
1869— February: Eva Gonzalès introduced to Manet and becomes
his pupil
fig 7. The Tragic Actor (Rouvière as
Hamlet), 1865
1870— May: Portrait of Eva Gonzalès fig 9 exhibited at the Salon; Summer:
Stays with artist Giuseppe de Nittis at Saint-Germain-en-Laye outside
of Paris; July: Franco-Prussian War begins; September: Third
Republic declared in Paris; sends his family to the Pyrenees and closes
his studio, storing paintings at collector Théodore Duret’s; the Siege of
Paris; November: Joins the Garde Nationale
1871— January: Prussia defeats France; February: Leaves Paris to join his
family; March: With his family in Arcachon; the Paris Commune
is declared and Paris is cut off from the rest of France; May 21–28:
“Semaine sanglante” (“bloody week”)—thousands of insurrectionists
(Communards) killed in the streets of Paris; political journalist Henri
Rochefort arrested and sentenced to life in prison; Late May–June:
Manet returns to Paris
fig 8. Émile Zola, 1868
1872— May: Nouvelle Athènes on the place Pigalle replaces Café Guerbois as
the meeting place of Manet and his fellow artists; June: Visits the new
Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam;
July: Moves to new studio at 4 Rue de Saint-Pétersbourg near the Gare
Saint-Lazare
fig 9. Portrait of Eva Gonzalès, 1870
1873— May: The Repose (Portrait of Berthe Morisot) fig 10 exhibited at the Salon;
September: Meets poet Stéphane Mallarmé
1874— May: The Railway fig 11 exhibited at the Salon; first “‘Impressionist”
exhibition at photographer Nadar’s studio (Manet does not participate,
despite receiving an invitation); August: Holidays at Gennevilliers, near
Argenteuil, where Monet is living—Renoir visits them; December:
Manet’s brother Eugène marries Berthe Morisot
1876— April 5–May 1: Opens his studio to the public to show paintings rejected
by the 1876 Salon jury
fig 10. The Repose (Portrait of Berthe
Morisot),1870
1878— June 5: Moves with family to 39 Rue de Saint-Pétersbourg
1879— Spring: Meets Irish writer and critic George Moore; establishes his last
studio at 77 Rue d’Amsterdam; September–October: Treatment for his
leg at Bellevue; meets singer Emilie Ambre
fig 11. The Railway,1874
1880— January: Health deteriorates; May: Portrait of Antonin Proust fig 12 and
Chez le Père Lathuille exhibited at the Salon; July–November: Rents a
house in Bellevue
May:
Portrait
of
Henri
Rochefort
fig
13
exhibited
at
the
Salon;
December
1881—
30: Made a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur (Knight of the Legion of
Honor)
1882— May: Exhibits A Bar at the Folies-Bergère fig 14 at the Salon; writes will
1883— April 20: Becomes incapacitated and his left leg is amputated; April 30:
Dies at age 51; May 3: Buried at Passy Cemetery—Monet, Proust, Zola,
Duret, Fantin-Latour, Alfred Stevens, and Philippe Burty are his
pallbearers
fig 12. Portrait of Antonin Proust, 1880
1884— Retrospective of 179 of Manet’s works is held at the École des Beaux-Arts
fig 13. Portrait of Henri Rochefort, 1881
fig 14. A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1881–82.
The Courtauld Gallery, London.
Not in exhibition.