What Are the Differences Between Monet and Manet?

Monet and Manet are two pioneering late 19th century artists with remarkably similar names. But did they actually have anything in common?

Sep 8, 2022By Rosie Lesso, MA Contemporary Art Theory, BA Fine Art
differences between manet and monet paintings
Self Portrait of Edouard Manet, 1878-79 (left) and portrait of Claude Monet by Charles Giron, 1885

 

Claude Monet and Edouard Manet were both luminary figures in late 19th century art. Both came from Paris, and have remarkably similar names. And both caused ripples of shock amongst conservative Parisian audiences, but for very different reasons. Manet was the Realist who painted a shocking new kind of female nude, while Monet’s flurried, rapid brushstrokes were the epitome of Impressionism. Let’s take a closer look at the art and ideas of these very different vanguard rebels who tore up the rulebook and subsequently changed the course of art history.  

 

1. Manet Was a Realist

edouard manet battle kearsage alabama painting
Edouard Manet, Battle of Kearsarge and Alabama, 1864, via Fine Art America

 

Edouard Manet was primarily a Realist painter, who, along with Gustave Courbet and Jean-Francois Millet, painted gritty scenes from real, ordinary life. Their art was an act of rebellion against the Parisian Salon and its emphasis on idealized, romantic or mythological scenes. Instead, Manet painted frank, direct, and confrontational subjects from modern life, as a powerful social commentary. These ranged from shootings to battle scenes and working women. Parisian art galleries even refused to exhibit some of his artworks because they were too risqué. Manet said, “I paint what I see and not what others like to see.”

 

2. Monet Was an Impressionist

impression sunrise claude monet 1872
Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet, 1872, via Art in Context

 

Monet was almost 10 years younger than Manet, and his art looked decisively different from that of Manet and the French Realists. Taking inspiration from the Barbizon School of painters, Monet painted outside directly from life (en plein air) with a distinctively swift series of brushstrokes, capturing the fleeting effects of light and weather. Art historians have widely acknowledged Monet’s painting, Impression: Sunrise, 1872, as the first ever Impressionist painting. It is from this work of art that the scathing art critic Louis Leroy invented the pejorative description ‘the Impressionists’, and the name stuck. 

 

3. Manet Focused on People

manet bar at folies bergere
Edouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergere, 1882, via the Courtauld, London

 

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Manet painted a wide range of subjects throughout his career, but his most celebrated works of art depict the people of modern Paris in everyday scenarios. Some of the artist’s best-known works of art portray young, working women with startling levels of honesty. These women often look out at us in a confident and direct way, reflecting the growing independence of women in late 19th century Paris. Manet’s famous painting A Bar at the Folies Bergères, 1882, is a prime example, situating a real woman at the very center of the scene as she carries out her work at the bar of the famous Parisian establishment. 

 

4. Monet Painted Landscapes

poplars epte claude monet
Claude Monet, Poplars on the Epte, 1891, via Tate, London

 

Like Manet, Monet painted a huge variety of different subjects throughout his long and varied career, but he was primarily a landscape painter. Monet dedicated much of his life to the depiction of the natural world as it shifted through different seasons and times of day. He even painted the same subject over and over again at different times of year, as seen in his Haystack series, his Poplars, and of course the famed Water Lilies. These series’ demonstrate just how ephemeral our perception of the world around us really is. 

 

5. Both Were influenced by Japanese Prints, but in Different Ways

claude monet bridge over pond water lilies
Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies by Claude Monet, 1899, via The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

 

Both Monet and Manet were huge admirers of the Japanese art that was being imported into Paris during the late 19th century. But each artist integrated different ideas from Japanese prints into their art, and became pioneers of the Japonisme that swept across Europe. Manet was particularly interested in the flat, black shapes, close compositions, and diagonal symmetry of Japanese art, and we can clearly see these influences in Olympia, 1863. Meanwhile, Monet introduced the Japanese floral motifs, bright colors, and cropped compositions into his most famous works of art, while his water garden at Giverny was an ode to Japanese flora, fauna, and architecture.

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By Rosie LessoMA Contemporary Art Theory, BA Fine ArtRosie is a contributing writer and artist based in Scotland. She has produced writing for a wide range of arts organizations including Tate Modern, The National Galleries of Scotland, Art Monthly, and Scottish Art News, with a focus on modern and contemporary art. She holds an MA in Contemporary Art Theory from the University of Edinburgh and a BA in Fine Art from Edinburgh College of Art. Previously she has worked in both curatorial and educational roles, discovering how stories and history can really enrich our experience of art.