1863, Edouard Manet, Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass) -- Musée d'Orsay (Paris)
From the museum label: In 1863, artists who were excluded from the Salon by the jury persuaded Napoleon III to grant them a space on the fringes of the official exhibition. Critics and the public who flocked to this "Salon des refusés" discovered this painting by Manet, which was entitled Le Bain (Bathing). It caused an instant scandal as it represented such a marked departure from the academic tradition of only depicting mythological figures in the nude genre. There are no goddesses from antiquity here, but two naked women surrounded by men in modern dress. The work was deemed to be obscene on account of its technique - which was close to a preliminary sketch-violent contrasts, and contempt for the rules of perspective.
Link to other Manet paintings
1863, Edouard Manet, Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass) -- Musée d'Orsay (Paris)
From the museum label: In 1863, artists who were excluded from the Salon by the jury persuaded Napoleon III to grant them a space on the fringes of the official exhibition. Critics and the public who flocked to this "Salon des refusés" discovered this painting by Manet, which was entitled Le Bain (Bathing). It caused an instant scandal as it represented such a marked departure from the academic tradition of only depicting mythological figures in the nude genre. There are no goddesses from antiquity here, but two naked women surrounded by men in modern dress. The work was deemed to be obscene on account of its technique - which was close to a preliminary sketch-violent contrasts, and contempt for the rules of perspective.
Link to other Manet paintings