"Manet: Return to Venice'

Have you been to Venice recently? You might consider adding that beautiful city— whose streets are filled with water, the buildings with art, and all are bathed in a unique, crystalline light— to your itinerary this summer. It's a unique opportunity to see the remarkable "Manet: Return to Venice," on view throgh August 18 at the Doge's beautiful Palace in the Piazza San Marco.

Edouard Manet (1832 "“1883), a father of modern art, travelled to Venice three times in his short lifetime, and this exhibition— jointly organized by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the Fondazione Civici Musei di Venezia— considers the influence of Italian Renaissance artists on his art.

Goddess and prostitute

As a result, for the first time you can view Manet's famous painting of Olympia side by side with Titian's Venus of Urbino. At first glance, Manet's version seems almost a copy of a reclining female nude covering her genitalia with her left hand, but the connotations of Manet's subject are very different.

Titian painted a celebratory marriage portrait— hence the bride's sweet expression, the faithful dog at her feet and domestics working with her linen trunk. Manet's Olympia, by contrast, declines to greet you with a sweet smile of expectancy. Her expression and rigid left hand signal, "Pay up first; flowers won't cut it." Besides in those days only prostitutes wore mules.

This breathtaking beginning, in tandem with Manet's preparatory sketches, sets the pace for a unique approach to Manet's work. Instead of emphasizing the then-popular Spanish influence, this exhibition illustrates Manet's debt to works by Raphael, Tintoretto, Lorenzo Lotto, Titian and other Renaissance artists on Manet's art.

Upper-class boredom

One gallery devoted to Manet's still life paintings seems jewel-like. His Le Citron ("The Lemon," 1880-81) is a tender evocation of a single fruit on a plain platter. Consider the lemon: Its shaded areas and light reflections define the surface. To look at it is to know how the skin would feel to touch.

During Manet's lifetime, Spain exerted a major cultural influence in Paris, and Manet was very much part of that scene. His paintings of the Spanish dancer, Lola de Valence (1862-63) and The Fifer (1866) emphasize the dramatic impact of this art.

Another intriguing juxtaposition matches Two Venetian Ladies, by Vittorio Carpaccio, circa 1495, with Manet's The Balcony (1868-69). The latter portrays two elegantly dressed, seated Parisian women, behind whom stands a pompous male figure. Boredom is rampant in both paintings; no one has anything to say that hasn't been said before. Manet's depiction of upper-middle-class life conveys his reaction as a committed liberal republican to their empty platitudes.

Vigorous intellectuals

By contrast, Manet's portraits of his own friends— the creative artists and intellectuals of his day, Emile Zola, Stephane Mallarmé and Georges Clemenceau— reveal a refreshing vigor and sense of intellect. Manet brought Berthe Morisot to life with just a few deft brushstrokes.

The exhibition ends with a delightful 1875 landscape painting of the Grand Canal that I'd never seen. It captures the fleeting reflections of light and movement in their true colors. I found myself wishing I could take it home with me.

Exiting the Doge's Palace on Piazza San Marco, you might enjoy a Bellini (champagne and peach juice) or a glass of Prosecco outdoors at Florien's Café, where you can relax amid the piazza's ancient architectures while listening to live music from this café or the one across the piazza. It's pricey but worth it.

The exhibition won't travel, so it's now or never. Carpe diem.♦


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