A Reflection of Manet: A Model Family by Caitlyn Bains

“Families are complicated,” is the first sentence of the exhibition, Manet: A Model Family, on display at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum from October 10th, 2024 to January 20th, 2025. The sentence itself is simple but one many of us can relate to even the “Father of Modern Art.” The exhibition explores the relationship between Edouard Manet and his family, which is more complex and deeper than what is displayed on the canvas. The exhibition as a whole is narrative-driven to help visitors relate to the message of navigating complex familial relationships. 

The exhibition splits Manet’s life into acts, having four acts and a prologue. These acts follow each other linearly and conclude with the death of Manet. The exhibition uses the small space and walls to cut out clear spaces for each act, making navigation around the exhibit easier with a ‘correct path’ to view it. The prologue is centered around the piece, The Croquet Party, the piece features him, his wife, Suzanne, his friend, and his stepson, Leon. The accompanying text sets the stage and immediately complicates, calling into question Leon’s paternity as not only is the identity of his father unknown, but one contender to be his father is Edouard’s father, Auguste Manet. Making it possible for Leon to be both Edouard’s stepson and half-brother.

Act I compared to the prologue is relatively tame. It revolves around Edouard Manet’s early career studying old masters. This section features many sketches and studies with the model for these pieces being Leon and Suzanne. One interesting comparison that the curators made between Manet’s pieces and the old masters he studied for them is how they compared Study for Surprised Nymph/ Moses Saved From the Waters to the scenes of Susanna and the Elders by Rembrandt and other 17th-century artists. Stating that Manet may have been using these scenes to, “defend Suzanne from the consequences of the advances of his father.” The comparison felt like a way to connect it to the prologue showing the importance of creating a narrative, but also continues on the desire to further complicate Manet’s family life.

The women in his life are the center of the exhibition and form the second act of the exhibition, Three Manet Women. It is centered around Manet’s relationship with the women in his life, who are often the muses of his paintings. His mother, Eugenie Manet, his wife Suzanne, and his brother’s wife, Berthe Morisot contributed much to Manet’s life and career, but also to each other in different ways at different times. The three women were known as, “Madame Manet.” and are heavily featured in the exhibit beyond just the second act as seen in the prologue and the earlier first act. 

Act III follows along closely with Act II, focusing on the distance between Manet and Suzanne during the Franco-Prussian War and their reunification at the end. This section is not that long but features letters between Manet and Suzanne which the visitor is invited to read, even with printed versions of them to make them more accessible.

Act IV is post-Manet’s death and how the family tried to keep his legacy alive even as they had a falling out with each other. Eugenie Manet declared that Manet had no living heirs, disavowing Suzanne and Leon, and making them struggle financially to the point that they sold much of Manet’s painting. Though Leon and Julie, Manet’s niece, worked endlessly to create catalogs of his work to cultivate his reputation. At Manet’s death, he was essentially nobody, but due to their work, he was later renowned as a master of art much like the ones he studied before him.

Splitting the exhibition into clear acts makes it more readable to the audience. The first is that it helps the visitor follow along with the story by allowing them to engage with it. This was one of the goals of the exhibitions as it invites the visitor to, “sit, consider, read, and discuss”, how learning about Manet’s personal history may affect the way you look at the painting. In this way, one of the rationales behind the exhibition is to make art more approachable and accessible. When considering the comparison between Susanne, his wife, and Susanna and the Elders, you could agree that Manet was trying to defend Susanne from his father or disagree and think that he was just following along in a tradition of art. The exhibition desires to adapt the traditional levels of engaging with art of fast viewings, by attempting a narrative to let the viewer slow down and think as they are viewing the works of art.

Finally, the ISG Museum effectively ties in more contemporary artists and their art as well as Isabella Gardner herself into the narrative. The museum credits Gardner and one of her advisors for Manet going from being underappreciated at his death to being held as the “Father of Modern Art” only 25 years later by displaying a letter between her advisor and Gardner discussing the purchase of one of his pieces. The label states that Gardner longed to purchase a piece by the artist and found Madame Auguste Manet, a portrait of Eugenie that is displayed permanently at the ISG and temporarily in this exhibition. The exhibition is also closely tied into the installation of Sandra: She’s A Beauty by Micklane Thomas and the show A Seattle Family, 1983-2014, a collection of photos by Mary Ellen Mark, at the Fenway Gallery. The montage installed on the exterior is of the artist's mother referencing Manet’s Madame Auguste Manet, while Mark’s photography offers a different view of family- one not dictated by blood.