Time.news – Rivals, friends, admirers of each other, the relationship between Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas has made rivers of ink flow and, for the first time, the two great artists go hand in hand in an exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris that explores both their private life and their work.
At least 120 pieces, starting with the self-portraits of Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas, which have not been on public display since the late 20th century, appear in this collaborative exhibition with the Musée de l’Orangerie and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which will exhibit it in September.
The exhibition was to be opened by the Queen consort of the United Kingdom Camilla Parker Bowles and the French first lady Brigitte Macron, before the monarchs’ state visit was cancelled due to the instability in France due to the protests against the pension reform.
“The two artists had a very strong relationship of love and hate and this bond greatly influenced their artistic production,” Isolde Pludermacher explained to EFE. curator of the Musée d’Orsay and curator of the exhibition.
Portraits of the bourgeoisie, horse racing and Parisian life through the everyday life of women are some of the themes shared by Manet and Degas in their works, which are now being shown”hand in hand“, according to Stéphane Ghégan, also in charge of the exhibition, for whom the comparison brings “a revealing force” to these works.
The relationship between Manet and Degas is still shrouded in mystery: no written letters have survived that document the friendship between the artists and it is not known exactly when they met, but it is thought that it was admiration for Velázquez to lead to their first meeting.
“We know that they met in the Louvre, in front of a work by Velázquez, a portrait of the Infanta Marguerite. Manet noticed Degas, who was making an engraved copy of the painting directly on copper. It was Degas’ audacity that attracted Manet at that time,” Pludermacher said.
The influence of Spanish art is evident in the paintings on display, especially in the work of Manetin works such as “Lola de Valencia” or “The Execution of Maxilimien”, the composition of which directly evokes Goya’s “The May 3rd Fire Squad”.
The exhibition energizes not only the similarities between the artists but also their differences in both the composition and content of their paintings.
A staunch Republican, Manet he intentionally included political themes in his works and went to official salons to exhibit his works, while Degas preferred to leave current events out of his works and chose to exhibit in alternative or “impressionist” presentations.
Furthermore, while Manet gave a central role to the main figures in his paintings, Degas did not necessarily emphasize the importance of figures in his works.
The artistic clashes made themselves felt on their work, to the point that Manet even tore up a painting by Degas, in which he portrayed his marriage, because he didn’t like it.
“We can talk about one inevitable rivalry“, said Pludermacher, “their artistic personalities were so strong and important that in the end there were moments in which a form of mutual resistance emerged,” added the curator.
Manet’s early death in 1883, at the age of 51, scarred Degas, who was quoted as saying that his friend was “larger than previously thought”.
But their relationship did not end with his death, on the contrary, according to the curator, “it will experience a new evolution”, in which Degas will acquire “a large number of works by Manet” as part of his private collection, with which he initially planned to a museum, and will restore his portrait of “Monsieur and Madame Manet”.
“This shows that it was still obsessed from his greatest friend-enemy,” concluded Plumermacher.