Édouard Manet: where to see him across these museums

Manet trained in the traditional academic manner but painted contemporary Parisian life with a flat, unidealized directness that repeatedly shocked Salon audiences. Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe, rejected by the official Salon jury in 1863, was shown instead at the resulting Salon des Refusés; two years later Olympia — a frank, unflinching nude modelled on Victorine Meurent — was accepted into the official Salon itself and caused an even greater uproar for its cool, appraising directness.

Though younger painters like Monet and Degas treated him as a leader, Manet kept exhibiting at the official Salon rather than joining the independent Impressionist shows. He died in Paris in 1883 of complications from syphilis contracted years earlier, having had a leg amputated eleven days before his death. Olympia entered the French national collection in 1890 after Monet organised a public subscription to buy it.

Manet paintings on display, museum by museum

Rooms and display status checked against each museum’s own collection database.

Listen to the commentary in the gallery

This list tells you where to look. In front of the actual painting, CulturAll adds the audio commentary: photograph the work or its label, listen, then ask your questions.