Civil War

1869

Meets Eva Gonzalès

In 1869 Manet met the young painter Eva Gonzalès and offered that she pose for a portrait; she became his only formal student.

1870

The siege of Paris: Manet in the army

During the siege of Paris Manet, a convinced republican, sent his family to Oloron-Sainte-Marie in the south of France, while he himself, with many fellow artists, joined the army and took part in the defence of the capital; he was lucky to survive.

1870s

Refuses to exhibit with the Impressionists

Although his own work influenced and anticipated the Impressionist style, Manet resisted involvement in Impressionist exhibitions: he did not wish to be seen as the representative of a group identity and held that modern artists should seek to exhibit at the Salon.

1871

Manet's name on the Commune's Fédération des artistes

In his absence his friends added his name to the Paris Commune's “Fédération des artistes”; he himself stayed out of politics and perhaps returned to the city only after the “bloody week” — in a letter to Berthe Morisot of 10 June he writes that they had come back a few days earlier.

1871

Oloron and Bordeaux: letters to Bracquemond

In January 1871 Manet travelled to Oloron-Sainte-Marie in the Pyrenees and then visited Bordeaux, the provisional seat of the National Assembly, where Émile Zola showed him the sights. On 18 March he wrote to Félix Bracquemond that he had never imagined France could be represented by such doddering old fools.

1873

“Le Bon Bock”: a huge success

In his new studio in 1873 Manet painted “Le Bon Bock”, which became famous: for the first time in almost fifteen years he had a huge success, yet he did not turn into a fashionable, opportunistic painter.