Before the Mirror

I love Édouard Manet.  It is a tragedy that he died at such an early age. He could have painted so many amazing paintings that would have shocked the contemporary audience!

Manet painted a motif conventionally associated with pornography many times, including in his famous Olympia and Nana. Before the Mirror is thought to be one such painting, but more spontaneous in execution. The artist’s vigorous brushstrokes lend an air of immediacy to the picture. With these masterpieces, he reflected his desire to render on canvas the truths of modern life that at the same time was very intimate. It was a theme that symbolized modernity for many late-19th-century artists and writers, including Edgar Degas and Émile Zola, who devoted their work to realistic portrayals of the shifting class structures and mores of French culture.

P.S. Manet is remembered as the father of modern art. Learn about five important facts that influenced his art. 

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