Repose (Le Repos)
Artist: Édouard Manet (French, 1832-1883)
Date: c. 1871
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: Rhode Island School of Design Museum (RISD), Providence, RI, United States
Description
Edouard Manet was a leader in the development of a new pictorial language, and Repose demonstrates elements of his radical style, including dominant contrasts of light and dark tones; broad, tactile paint-handling; and a sense of shallow, compressed space. This representation of the artist Berthe Morisot shocked some viewers, who criticized her casual pose, her informal dress, and her availability as a model. Her gaze suggests reverie, in contrast to the raucous depiction of a pearl diver pursued by a dragon in the Japanese woodblock print above her head. Manet described his painting as a study in physical and psychological repose - “not at all in the character of a portrait.”
