First Sunday At The Orsay With Manet And Degas

We were five hours at the Orsay, first visiting the Manet/Degas exhibition, then, after a snack, doing favorite parts of the museum. The Manet/Degas pairing was a deep dive into the earlier works of both, friendly rivals, an odd couple really, Manet never joining the Impressionist group--though his brother married Berthe Morisot--and Degas one of its leading figures. Most of the paintings were from the Orsay's massive holdings, many we'd never seen before, but American museums were well represented as well. It was a large exhibition, many rooms. I'll just post pix of a few of the most famous items and a few notables too. 

FWIW, as we went through the exhibition, I took pix mostly of the things that I found impressive or interesting, thinking I'd tally the score later. As you'll see, there's no need to tally...it's mostly Manet. Sorry, Degas fans.

In a queue to get into the Manet/Degas exhibition, we had ample
opportunity to study Courbet's monumental Artist's Studio, perhaps
the apex of Realism, placed there no doubt by the museum staff to
emphasize what Manet and Degas were following...

Great interpretive signage throughout; I won't 
attempt to summarize the many insights and lessons

Manet was painted by numerous contemporaries, but did only 
one self-portrait; above is an 1868 portrait by Degas of Manet and
his wife; Manet was so unhappy with Degas' portrait of Mme. Manet
that he tore this strip out of the painting; Degas was deeply hurt; but
recovered

A likeness of Filippino Lippi by Manet during
Italian travels and study, 1850s; both Manet and
Degas were from well-to-do upper middle families

Manet, La Peche, 1862; the couple in the foreground are Manet 
and his soon-to-be bride

Degas, Souvenir de Velazquez, 1858; during his
travel and study

Manet, Olympia, 1865; a shocker; but what shocked people then
was her expression and the many trappings and symbols of a
prostitute; audiences were already accustomed to being shocked
by Manet, however: Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe, perhaps Manet's most
famous painting, had already appeared in the Salon des Refuses in
1863; both paintings featured the same nude model; Le Dejeuner
sur l'herbe was not part of this exhibition; it remained upstairs,
on the 5th floor, part of a large collection the donor of which had
stipulated never to be moved or separated

Manet's 1868 portrait of a very young Emile Zola;
Zola had defended Manet's works in the press 

Manet, Jeanne Duval, 1862; said to be Baudelaire's mistress

Degas, Young Woman with Ibis,1861, MMA, from
Degas' Italian travel and study

Manet, Berthe Morisot au bouquet de violettes;
Manet was well regarded in the Morisot salon and
did more than one portrait of Berthe; Manet's brother
married Berthe, whose stock as a painter and 
Impressionist was much on the rise; the color black
was forbidden in the Impressionist code; here Manet
uses it and the violets to identify a stylish Parisian
woman, no longer in mourning for the Franco-Prussian
war and the Paris Commune; we were at the opening
of the Orsay's Morisot exhibition in 2019

Manet, The Dead Toreador, 1860s; alternatively titled: Bulls, 1;
Toreadors, 0

Manet, Le Repos, 1871; Berthe Morisot again,
this time in a pose that some praised for "its
intense modernity"

Manet, Berthe Morisot a l'eventail, 1872

Manet, The Evasion of Rochefort, 1881; Rochefort's
escape from the penal colony in New Caledonia; he
had been a critic of Napoleon III; Manet, unlike the
Impressionists, was not "above" political comment

Degas, A Cotton Office in New Orleans, 1873; LSS: before he
was an Impressionist, Degas visited the family cotton trade
offices in New Orleans, producing this painting; the family
were slave-owners, supported the CSA, and continued the
suppression of former slaves in Reconstruction...

Manet, The Combat of the Kearsage and the Alabama
off the Coast of Cherbourg, 1864; Manet was anti-
slavery, supported the Union, and celebrated its
victory; that's the Alabama burning and sinking

Manet, The Monet Family in the Garden, 1874; about as Impressionistic
as Manet gets

Degas, Boats at Sea,1868

Manet, Marcellin Desboutin et Ludovic Lepic, 1876;
Ludovic was a famous engraver, here at work, Lepic
a noble; Desboutin appears in several of Manet's works 

To wit, this, one of Manet's best known, In the Cafe,
or L'Absinthe, 1876; the woman imbibing the green
goddess is another of Manet's friends, Ellen Andree,
an actress

Manet, The Music Lesson,1868; the couple are Zacharie Astruc
and Mme. Astruc, friends of the painter; I contend that the teacher
is on the right...

Upstairs, 5th floor, Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe, 1863