He was born into an upper-class family, and rejecting their choice of the navy as a career, turned to painting.
Édouard Manet
Edouard Manet: Luncheon on the Grass painting with naked lady in front sitting with two men at picnic in leafy settingÉdouard Manet: Luncheon on the Grass. Public domain. Musée d’Orsay
Édouard Manet (January 23, 1832-April 30, 1883) was one of the most influential of the Pre-Impressionist painters moving on from Realism. He was born into an upper-class family, and rejecting their choice of the navy as a career, turned to painting. In 1863, his major work, The Luncheon on the Grass ( Le dejeuner sur l’herbe) or Olympia was rejected by the Academy of Fine Arts because it showed a nude woman with two clothed men at a picnic. It became one of the many paintings considered the watershed works that marked the beginnings of modern art. He painted a wide variety of subjects, from Paris café life to scenes of contemporary wars, from Paris streets to small still lifes.