The Tragic Death of Edouard Manet

THE TRAGIC DEATH OF EDOUARD MANET The French Pioneer Impressionist Painter in the 19th Century: A Psychoanalytical glance to the Psycho-physical Disturbances, Personality Characteristic, the Personal Life & the Arts Monir S. Saleh*

Abstract Edouard Manet (1832-1883), the pivotal French painter in transition from Realism to Impression- ism – modern-life subjects – primed a colossal deviation in the world of painting at the turning point of the 18th century to the 19th century in France. This paper will psychoanalytically ex- plore Manet’s disturbed life and disarrayed course of development, psycho-physical sufferings including child-parents conflicts, unresolved Oedipus Complex, depressive and sadomasochistic mood as a result of being the object of constant rejection and humiliation by parents and the ruling power that caused a paradoxical and delusional perception of the ‘Self’ inside him. Manet’s art and life-style are woven with saturated controversies: inclination towards natural beauty and classical paintings combined with norm breaking and scandalous life-style as a mean for his rebellious movement to protest social ruling system and advocate modernism. At the early teen age, Edouard experienced a hidden indecent triangular affair involving his father Auguste, and the piano teacher, Suzanne Leenhoff. The lack of intimacy among the parents, abandoned life and vulgarism within the family members with having a lavish family pride provoked a narcissistic personality disarray for Manet, which resulted in a “Freudian Neurotic Family Romance” that caused an identity crisis and self-denial, which consequently led him towards traumatized and severe psycho-physical sicknesses all through his life. By creating radical paintings, Manet was embedding an audacious protest against the hegemony of ruling power and sociopolitical values at his time in France. This was a sudden atrocity and confusing conversion to the world of paintings unacceptable to his contemporaries. Manet’s doctrine was to advocate modernism as a way of self-consciousness and self-reference, which was incongruent to his bizarre life and aristocratic origin. These aberrations affected his personal, social and artistic life towards a physical and mental suffering that eventually culminated to a tragic termination. The merge of immense paradoxical dogma, creative mind, controversial vision to social constraint, foresight for the inex- orable rise of new sociopolitical vision in France, at the same time excruciating from the ethical principles, cultural and aesthetic orders in Edouard Manet is significantly thought provoking and questionable. Keywords: Edouard Manet, Psychoanalysis, Impressionism, Psycho-physical disarray, Personal- ity characteristics, Psychopathology, Art.

*. PhD; ATR, Psychoanalyst; Clinical / Analytical / Aesthetic Art Psychotherapist; Faculty member, Department of Education & Psychology; Family Research Center; Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran. Email: [email protected]; [email protected] ...... THE TRAGIC DEATH OF EDOUARD MANET

Introduction values of Realism. He also propagated Édouard Manet, the French pioneered modernism as a way of encouraging painter in transition from the Realism to people to gain self-consciousness or self- Impressionism, was born in an aristocrat reference to have command over their Parisian family on the 23rd of January personal life and destiny. By his intuitive 1832, and died on the 30th of April 1883. vision for the future of modern France, Édouard’s creative innovation in painting Manet was united with a group of his profoundly influenced the artistic percep- intellectual advocates and motivated tion, in particular painting, as a ground people for socio-cultural changes in breaking movement in the turn of the 18th France. He conveyed an immense to the 19th century in France. He drasti- deviation into the world of painting, as cally had contentious effect on the so- he injected infernal beauty on the other cio-political perception among the French features of the human’s destination in the people. centuries ahead, and feasibly devaluation To have a deeper inference of Manet’s of morality and ethical boundaries to the characteristic traits, with unbearable mod- future generations. Carl Gustav Jung, the ern aesthetic perception and artistic vision Swiss psychoanalyst (1875-1961), by at his time, a thorough psychoanalytical analyzing Picasso’s artworks, remarks exploration of his developmental stages that: “these kinds of artworks (Cubic is discussed in this paper. It includes the paintings), … belongs to the neurotic, 57 family background, the childhood nurtur- and he [Picasso], usually encounters the ing, the growth problems, the intricate life, unconscious in the form of the ‘Dark (1) the sociopolitical creed, the psycho-physi- One’, a Kundry of horribly grotesque, cal ailments, and finally the tragic disease. primeval ugliness or else of infernal Manet’s rebellious movement and protest beauty.” (Jung’s 1932, Article on Picasso, against the ruling power’s tyranny in 3. Access, 2016). Manet’s improper art, France, combined with his norm-breaking can be considered too, as the expression of masterworks, was a demonstrative the dark sides of his unconscious domain, objection to the sociopolitical and which appeared in the form of infernal art. church’s ruling dominance over all aspects of people’s destiny. Such unacceptable Manet’s Life masterworks consist of The Luncheon on Childhood: From the early childhood the Grass and The Olympia exposed during along with his two younger brothers, 1863 in Paris. These two paintings caused Édouard experienced a lifelong unhappy immense shocking disputes among the and unstable life. The parents’ unharmo- public, artists and the church authorities, nious and distrusted relationship with un- which traumatically affected Manet social faithful intimacy affected Manet’s mental reputation and distracted his psycho- and social growth and emotional insecuri- physical stamina. Manet created a number ties and histrionic disarrayed (Lock, 145). of Real paintings, which bluntly expressed (Image1) his rejection to the philosophy and the Quarterly Fourth Year, No. 17 Winter 2016 ......

Image1(2) . Portrait of Monsieur and Madam Image 2. Portrait of Edouard’s mother. 1860. Auguste Manet. Edouard’s Parents. 1860. Oil on Canvas, 1311 cm x 93.3. 111.5 × 91 cm. Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The lack of intimacy. Mother in the dark and disparity. 58 Manet was raised in a morbid neurotic life, which embedded a weak and aristocratic and posh family structure with vulnerable ‘ego’ in him that formed an melancholic raising cradle and lack of unstable personality and led him towards paternal intimacy. He became conditioned an incurable psychosomatic sufferings to an unstructured family space with and devastating diseases. These traumatic hysterical and spiteful behavior in the confusion and bitter experiences shaped household and constant transferences a dark personal and social status for him of cynicism. At the same time, with that shed a gloomy and disconcerting light bombastic and pretentious social ambition in his characteristics and later on appeared Edouard fell dramatically short in meeting in his “restless and radical life and paint- his parents’ expectations for his education ings” (Lock, 145). and career. (Lock, 145). Manet’s unusual life merged with his The Mother-Child Relationship creative yet unacceptable art in the pub- Edouard’s mother in despair and agony lic’s normative canons must be considered (Image 2) raised her artistic minded little as part of the bases of extreme frenzy and son in a domineering and unhappy space paradoxical confusion in his socio-polit- filled with hysterical and extravagant yet ical and cultural indecency. The chaotic shallow and miserable environment with turmoil woven with emotional instabil- constant and horrifying sobbing which ity had a detrimental impact on Manet’s he experienced all through his develop- ...... THE TRAGIC DEATH OF EDOUARD MANET mental stages. Edouard was exposed to being most often used to allay anxiety in a confused family interaction with moral the face of aggressive or erotic impulses. indecency and care free training, mainly (Freud, 49-50). during his ‘psychosexual stage of devel- Manet experienced “the lack of mother- opment’. This is the time that the child ly affectionate untainted touch and secure becomes aware of self-identity and gen- protection, vulgarism and seductive atti- der difference recognition, which requires tudes from the surrounding males and fe- a careful attention for a normal transition males, Freudian ‘slip of tongue, and dirty from this crucial stage for a normal per- practical jokes’, immature and disarrayed sonality formation, to prevent disarray identification with the father (the male from either obsessive disposition, guilt figure role), and an unconscious -compe feeling, and shameful taboos, or an amor- tition and revengeful attitude towards the phous personality with no strong and de- father” (Kuspit, 2002,10). His unfaithful cent boundaries. involvement in this kind of life, “resulted Edouard had strong visual perception in unsolved Oedipal Complex to symbolic and sharp “mirror imaging memory” possession of mother, which caused him to (Ramachandran, Neuro psychologist ‘displace’ all kinds of females to respond 2007). That is, he reflected and repeated to his early childhood ‘need’ for mother- what he perceived and stored during the ly pure love and attention, “the base of 59 childhood in his long term memory. Since Manet’s famous mistakes and composi- Edouard had constantly been exposed tional eccentricities, which led him to his to nudity and vulgarism and abundant ‘Oedipal strivings” (Kuspit, 2002, 10). courting among the family household, Being exposed to extravagant scenery of and as “Manet mentioned, had emotional nudity in early childhood, may have af- dynamics which affected his self- fected his artistic visionary and saturated perception as mother-child early childhood his visual memory with what he experi- with an unhealthy interaction revealed in enced during the course of his growth. his paintings of nudity and on the whole After insulting critiques to his paint- art” (Kuspit,142). Freud considers that ings of nudity, Manet mentioned to his Manet’s nude Olympiacirca (1863), “is friends that: “I paint what I see, not what a courting of the incest-barrier [serious others like to see” (1863, cited 2016). It taboo]… standing in as a ‘substitute- can be inferred that his constant exposure object’ for Manet’s mother” (Freud, 74). to unclean sceneries, as a chiled, affected Displacement, a symbolic shift or move, his perceptual senses; and his mind be- is an unconscious defense mechanism came preoccupied with those scenes for where the mind substitutes a new aim or the rest of his life. “Evidently, what Manet object for goals felt in their original form did see were naked women, as shown by which was dangerous or unacceptable; its two of the most distinctive paintings of transference of emotions, ideas, or wishes the 19th century”, both scandalous in their Quarterly Fourth Year, No. 17 Winter 2016 ......

Image 3. Suzanne Leenhoff, The piano teacher, Madam Edouard Manet, 1867- 1868, Oil on canvas. Musée d’Orsay, Paris. time -in the latter case [Luncheon on the luctantly sail on a training vessel to Rio Grass], because the picnicking men with de Janeiro which was the French empire’s the clothes-free companions were in mod- colony at the time. After failures in na- ern dress” (Kuspit, 10). vy’s examination, his father relented to 60 Manet was attracted to his piano teach- his son’s wishes to pursue an art educa- er Suzanne Leenhoff, when he was a teen- tion. Although he never paved the way ager but he was aware of father’s sensual for a welcoming and respectful attitude engagement with her so he tried a hidden towards him and to his artistic talent and relationship. Edouard prolonged his feel- enthusiasm. Therefore, Edouard remained ings until his father’s death to marry and ignored and unattended with the father’s triumphantly possess and displace Mad- grandiosity. ame as his symbolic mother and implicitly In a letter to his friend, Fliess, Freud fulfill his revenge of his father. The later wrote that “the real father by a superior consequences of this reversed displace- one is only an expression of the child’s ment transferred to the social issues, and longing for the happy vanished days when finally to him ‘self’ as “the nearest object his father seemed to him the noblest and at hand to revenge” (Klein, 202). strongest of men and his mother the dear- est and loveliest of women. He is turning The Father-Child Interaction away from the father whom he knows to- Edouard’s childhood relationship with day to the father in whom he believed in his father is filled with constant humilia- the earlier years of his childhood; and his tion, ignorance, command and social am- fantasy is no more than the expression of bitions, and too much expectation from an a regret that those happy days have gone. artistic minded child beyond his capacity. Thus in these fantasies the over- valuation In 1848 his father ordered Edouard to re- that characterizes a child’s earliest years ...... THE TRAGIC DEATH OF EDOUARD MANET comes into its own again. An interesting contribution to this subject is afforded by the study of dreams. We learn from their interpretation that even in later years, Image 4. if the Emperor and Empress appear in Manet’s self- dreams, those exalted personages stand portrait. for the dreamer’s father and mother. (June 1878- 1879 20, 1898 - 1950a, Letter 91, 240). So that Oil on canvas. the child’s over - valuation of his parents 83 cm × 67 cm. Owner: Franck survives as well in the dreams of normal Giraud Private adults. (Interpretation of Dreams, 1900 a, collection Standard Ed., 5, 353). A petrifying gaze The frenzied Family, the protagonist to nothingness. with no boundaries and denied ethical sual fantasies. In 1849, Manet involved interaction among the immediate family in an indecent and scandalous triangular and the extended household affected im- love affair among the father- Auguste, and mensely in perceiving the essence of life the Dutch-born piano teacher, Suzanne by Edouard. This played a significant role Leenhoff (Image 3), of his own age, with 61 in his confusing and paradoxical growth whom, simultaneously father was cop- in all aspects of his developmental stages: ulating for approximately ten years. The mental gain, personality formation, artistic outcome of this muddled hidden sensual thriving, social life, personal and secretive affair, out of matrimony, was a no-refer- scandalous life-style, psycho physical dis- ence-son, Leon Koella Leenhoff, with eases, and eventually his traumatic illness an unidentified father – either Edouard or which ended to a tragic demise. Auguste Manet. (b. 1852). The family represents a capriciously After the death of his father Aguste volatile mechanism for the development Manet in 1862, despite his mother’s sever of sexuality, repression, conflict, and de- rejection, Edouard and Suzanne Leenhoff sire, which had an impact on a father-son wed to legitimize their relationship. The drama rooted in a guarded ‘the family’s mother passed off the boy to Suzanne’s secret’: the adultery of Manet’, and the family, and to avoid scandal, he was status of Léon Leenhoff. introduced to society as Suzanne’s younger brother and Manet’s godson; although, Manet’s Woven Personal Life and Art their son Leon never have known his true The confusing experiences of an ap- parentage. Manet’s mother had likely propriate life-style with no ethical bound- helped the two conspire to keep the secret aries, mingled with inner conflicts and from Edouard’s father as he would not have fluctuations between the realities and sen- tolerated the disgrace of an illegitimate Quarterly Fourth Year, No. 17 Winter 2016 ......

fight with father over the mother being ignored and betrayed by the father, the con- veyance of pity and sorrow for protection of the victimized women (the symbolic mother) to compensate the father’s lack of intimacy and respect also a projection to the father’s intrusive behavior. Manet traveled to Italy, apparently for the art, but to avoid the disgrace and constant stingy language of the social ambiances. This would have been the end of Manet’s artistic career before it even began, regard- less of unsuccessful efforts that he tried to establish his artistic reputation with the mother’s extravagant financial support.

Image: 5. Boy Carrying a Sword, 1861 – Manet, He left Paris with a wounded soul, and a painting, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. shattered personality, a lost identity, a so- 2670 × 37cm 22. www.metmuseum.org cial disgrace, a ruined artistic career at his 62 child in the family. Later, eleven-year-old contemporary, a thorough physical sick- Leon Leenhoff, most famously, became ness, a loss of the sense of belonging as a the subject many of Manet’s models. ‘father’, a ‘son’, a ‘civilian’. As an artist, Examples: of the ‘Boy Carrying a Sword. although he painted some natural beauty (1861, Image 5, Leon). He also appears as and a series of flowers, but he never had the boy carrying a tray in the background the chance to reach his Jungian ‘individ- of ‘The Balcony’ (Image 6). Leon The uation’- achieving his complete whole as displacement of feelings and attitudes a human being, that in case of an artist, from the past ‘significant others’ onto the is creating his masterpiece). Bataille men- present-day analyst constitutes a central tions that “ Manet divorced both from his aspect of the transference, particularly in work and from his personality, on the one the case of the neurotic” (Freud, PFL 2. hand elegant and self-assured, on the other 49-50; Akhtar, 2009, 82). hesitant and impulsive” (cited in Bromb- This situation usually occurs as the out- ert, xviii 2016). come of a persistent absurd, incongruent, Manet, the rebellious artist learned chaotic and domineering ruling behavior from the Realism and Naturalism of his with simultaneous occurrence of pleasure French contemporaries, and even from and harsh discipline. In other words, fixa- the17th century Spanish paintings. His tion of the instinctual desires through gain interest in the classical Masters and con- and punishment. Also it can be considered temporary Realism gave him the crucial as an unaware revenge and unconscious foundation for his revolutionary approach...... THE TRAGIC DEATH OF EDOUARD MANET

Image: 6B. Boy Carrying a Tray (1860- 61). The dull looking Leon in a dark gray and blue colors . Beside his extravagant life, Edouard Image: 6 A. The Balcony, showed interest in a ‘bohemian life 170 cm × 124 cm.1868, Paris Musée d’Orsay / Ash- molean Museum. ox.ac.uk/media/news stories. Three style’– the practice of an unconventional, bright figures in front, a figure in the dark and partially unorthodox or anti-establishment politi- obscured in the interior’s background, the Leon carry- 63 cal or social viewpoints, often expressed ing a tray of fruit and drink to entertain the Edouard’s through free art, free music, free love, fru- celebrities’guests. gality, and in some cases voluntary pov- is thoroughly questionable! erty. However, a misperception and par- With a bizarre misperception of bo- adoxical attitude towards the bohemian hemian doctrine, Manet with his avant- way of life is observed in Manet’s person- garde Realism, along with Monet and al and social conduct. This casts a doubt Renoir, eventually emerged as leaders as whether he really was a rebellious of what would be called Impressionism. bohemian? His pretentious living style Manet was impressed by Spanish culture, witnesses differently! Since, beside his and was affected by Diego Velázquez, extravagant excessive and carefree life, 1599- 1660, and Francisco Goya 1746- wherever was desired or fancy, Manet was 1828. The meetings of what Emil Zola leading and practicing bohemian life, such – naturalist writer, 1840-1902 – termed as: ‘free love’, breaking the conventional “the Batignolles Group” were a mixture laws, and expressing abandoned life with of personalities, attitudes, and classes; all no social and ethical respect and confine- joined together as independent-minded, ment; “what is referred to as ‘aristocratic avant-garde artists to forge the principles bohe mian circle’ - haute bohème or “high of their new artistic styles. It was motivat- bohemians”, (Turque, Washington Post, ed to scandalize the French Salon de Paris, 2013). The practice that in case of Manet, (the official art exhibition of the Académie Quarterly Fourth Year, No. 17 Winter 2016 ......

des Beaux-Arts, 1667) publicly with his- visually compelling and uniquely recalci- disregard to academic conventions and his trant. (Locke, 145). Shameless and realis- strikingly modern images of urban life. tically rendered nudity of a woman - like- Being friends with poet Charles ly a prostitute - staring at them from the Baudelaire and artist Gustave Courbet, canvas. Critiques included comments that Manet moved amongst other progressive the painting was “vulgar,” “immodest,” thinkers who believed that art should rep- and “inartistic,” comments that deeply resent modern life, not history or mythol- distressed Manet and likely caused him a ogy. This was a tumultuous artistic shift serious bout with depression (Lock, 145). that pitted the status quo of the Salon with Fantin-Latour, a Studio at Batignolles avant-garde artists who suffered mightily (1870), which depicts a gathering of Mon- at the hands of the conservative public and et, Zola, Bazille, and Renoir, among oth- vicious critics. Manet and others protested ers, all admiring Manet as he paints in his and the Emperor relented by putting all of own studio, demonstrates Manet’s signifi- the rejected works into the secondary Sa- cance to the modern art world. lon des Refuses, so the public could see Manet joined the National Guard. The what had been deemed unworthy (the Art political events of the next few years Foundation, 3). Manet obstinately insisted forced Manet to stay out of Paris, return- 64 to create adamant paintings opposing to ing only briefly during the Versailles re- the academic doctrine, intending to assert pression. He was later forced to leave his his own subjectivity and the importance destroyed studio and set up in the rue de of the vsion of the painter, compared to Saint-Petersburg in 1872. the coventional rules The Luncheon on Away from Paris to aid his declining the Grass and Olympia – though, caused health he received two awards, at the Sa- great social concerns and controversies, lon of 1880 Manet was awarded a 2nd but served as rallying points to create place medal, and was awarded the Legion Impressionism, the confusing conversion of Honor in 1881. The laneur, Manet re- and devaluation of the criteria and ref- corded the modern changes in the streets erences in the social standards in France of Paris and the lives of its inhabitants. during that period (The Art Foundation,3). The cafe concerts were a great symbol The presence of family members and in- of these changes. Set in his favorite cafe timates in paintings, constantly shaped concert, he created one of his most lauded Manet’s compositional assortment and works, A Bar at the Folies-Bergere (1881- choice of replica and a family that symbol- 82). This work, along with spring (1881), izes a persuasive, volatile and capricious was well received at the 1882 Salon. The mechanism for the provocative arousal of Salon of 1866 refused his pieces The Fifer sexuality and seduction and of repression, (1866) and The Tragic Actor (1866). But conflict and desire. Critics had long been in support of this avant-garde move, Zola recognized Manet’s paintings for being wrote an essay about Manet in L’Evene- ...... THE TRAGIC DEATH OF EDOUARD MANET ment, for which he was fired. (Art Histo- ally-charged feelings and experiences ry, cited 2016). shown in the ‘Execution of Maximilian By exclusion of Manet’s works from Series’ (1867–1869), the most ambitious, the Paris exposition Universelle, by con- yet enigmatic paintings of Manet (Image stant family and social groups refusal, in- 7: A,B,C,D). sult, and humiliation, Manet went through This work was considered too polit- depressive mood and “the same year ill ically controversial, and its display was health began to affect his daily life and forbidden. It was a rebellious act against denial of his works” (Lock, 39). He set up the ruling domain of the church, and a tent near Courbet’s to exhibit his work against the Victorian culture, which had outside the Exposition, where he again shade all over the Europe before 1850. was criticized soundly. Manet mentioned Manet’s movement explicitly rejected the that: “They are raining insults upon me, philosophy and values of realism and ac- I’ve never been led such a dance (Edouard cepted modernism as a way of self-con- Manet writing to Baudelaire about the sciousness or self-reference. A dynamic Olympia, 1865). In 1876 the Salon reject- movement for political and social change; ed again several of his works and exclud- bold examination of the forbidden sub- ed from the International exhibition of jects through art as a means of protesting 1867”. Because of his antisocial and re- the socio-political rules governing France, 65 bellious thoughts and activities, the moth- and propagating a more generalized no- er constantly worried that he would waste tion of modernism. The conspicuous ab- all his inheritance on this extravagant de- sence of the actual spectator’s position in sire, which was enormously expensive” the painting, highly unusual in the context (Lock,39- 44). of Manet’s work that overtly registers Manet joined the repeat section Na- emotion can be considered as the denial tional Guard, but the political events and degrading the emptiness and rootless forced Manet to stay out of Paris, He left imperialism doctrine to protest the coloni- his destroyed studio and set up in the rue al invasion, by painting the empty scene de Saint-Petersburg in 1872. As a staunch of a great event, the execution of a great republican, Manet was unhappy with Na- enemy as the “Other”. The 4 depicting of poleon III’s government. (Art and Analy- the execution by firing squad of Emperor sis, cited 2016). Maximilian I, and the short-lived Second Mexican Empire are painted. The Blind Execution of Maximilian Series Gaze paintings suggests a crisis in rep- In a denial of monarchy, under the resentation in which the master narratives heavily influenced by Goya’s The“ Third of history are undermined by a modernity of May 1808’ painting, Manet’ ulti- marked by theatricality, a heroism that is mate opposition to the ruling system ex- nothing more than artifice and masquer- pressed through his extremely emotion- ade. In these series Manet rediscovered Quarterly Fourth Year, No. 17 Winter 2016 ......

Image 7 A. The Execution of Emperor Maximilian Image 7 B. The Execution of Emperor Maximilian (1867), oil on canvas, 48 x 58 cm. (1867-68), oil on canvas, 48 x 58 cm. Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, Copenhagen. National Gallery, London. the hidden truth, Benjamin, following where he now only glorifies the father but, Brecht, suggests “a theatrical distance and with his new- found sexual knowledge, detachment” (Ibsen, K, 213). ponders sexual scenarios where he thinks “his mother is the subject of the most Manet and the Freudian ‘Neurotic intense sexua curiosity” into situations of Family Romance. secret infidelity and into secret love af- 66 In a short paper entitled ‘the Neu- fairs. It is not hard to see the “Family Ro- rotic Family Romances’ (1909), Freud mance” is a vivid explanation of Freud’s explained the common phenomenon of theory of the Oedipus Complex. This is a which “children first become independent neurotic condition that the individual em- of their parent’s authority. This growth pe- phasizes the nobility of his heritage and riod is one of the most necessary though creates elaborate heroic fantasies much one of the most painful results brought like fanciful romantic tales (Cummins, 3). about by the course of a child’s develop- Manet, with artistic characteristics is ment.”(Freud, 1. Cited 2016). a sample that is affected by mother- child The first two years of life, parents as melancholic relationship and bombastic the idyllic supremacy and the only au- feeling about his family pride which is a thority and the source of all beliefs. But good example of neurotic family romance. later in childhood, the child who feels Artists are neurotics that are particular- ignored and disregarded and is punished ly susceptible to this condition because or rejected by parents, the ‘need’ for self their creative imaginations are transition- protection and esteem, since incapable al vehicles towards weaving the neurotic to react directly, unconsciously revenges thoughts and feelings to an elaborate art through imaginary means, including the product. The creativity of these artists arts”. When the child learns the facts of ensures numerous embellishments on childbirth, he enters a second sexual stage the’family romance’ onto the daydream- ...... THE TRAGIC DEATH OF EDOUARD MANET

Image 7 C. The Execution of Emperor Maximilian Image 7D. The Execution of Emperor Maximilian (1868–69), oil on canvas, 252 x 305 cm. Kunsthalle (1867), oil on canvas, 195.9 x 259.7 cm. Museum of Mannheim. Fine Arts, Boston. er in order to bring back significance. tion started, new visual technologies and Freud’s cynical and disparaging view of the advances in mass production changed childhood assures the reader that the child the way in which art was perceived. With is only trying, desperately, to return to the work of art multiplied and fragmented happier times when the parent’s status was into many meanings, they sought to create omnipotent. (Cummins, 3) new ways of seeing that would provoke a 67 The concept of ‘family romance’ be- transformation of both spectator and art- comes particularly noteworthy when it is ist. (Ibsen, 2006) applied more broadly to the larger social Some commentators define Modern- movements of history. Like the child who ism as a mode of thinking, one or more rebels against his parents, it is interesting philosophically denied characteristics, to see how, similarly, the new generations like self-consciousness or self-reference, always rebel against the ideals inherited that run across all the novelties in the arts from their predecessors. The whole pro- and the disciplines. Especially in the West gress of society rests upon the opposition is a socially progressive trend of thought between successive generations.” Disci- that affirms the power of human beings plines Since the mythological epics of ar- to create, improve and reshape their envi- chetypal and etheric entities were revealed ronment with the aid of practical experi- to human; and as long as the universal mentation, scientific knowledge, or tech- memory permits to dig back, emotion, nology. From this perspective, modernism sensation, and beauty merged together to encouraged the re-examination of every reveal truth and facts in a form of art ex- aspect of existence, from commerce to pression or the other. So when the impres- philosophy, with the goal of finding what sionist movement by the great precursor was ‘holding back’ the progress, and re- of the impressionists Eugene Delacroix placing it with new ways of reaching the for artists of Édouard Manet’s genera- same end. Others focus on modernism as Quarterly Fourth Year, No. 17 Winter 2016 ......

the neurotic’s estrangement from his parents, begun in this manner, might be de- scribed as ‘the neurotic’s family romance’. It is seldom remembered consciously but can almost always be revealed by psychoanalysis” (Freud, 1910, 40-50). For a quite peculiarly marked, im- aginative activity is one of the essential

Image 8. Family Romance. characteristics of neurotics and also of all 76.8 x 123.2 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, comparatively highly gifted people, this New York. activity emerges first in children’s play, aesthetic introspection. This facilitates and then, starting roughly from the peri- consideration of specific reactions to the od before puberty, takes over the topic of use of technology in the First World War, course of the development within the fam- and anti-technological and nihilistic as- ily and their bizarre relationships. pects of the works of diverse thinkers and Kuspit believes that for Manet “A char- artists spanning the period from Friedrich acteristic example of this peculiar imagi- native activity is to be seen in the familiar 68 Nietzsche (1844–1900) to Samuel Beckett (1906 – 1989; Oser,2007). (Image 8, Fam- day-dreaming, which persists far beyond ily Romance). puberty. If these daydreams are carefully Discussion The juxtaposition of the examined, they are found to serve as the pioneer Impressionist painter, Manet’s fulfillment of wishes and as a correction creative art along with the socio-politi- of actual life. Manet’s eroticism and an cal-cultural doctrine, and his lavish prac- ambitious that usually concealed behind ticing life style are incomprehensibly in- the latter one, then, the child’s imagina- corporated and radically inharmonious. tion becomes engaged in the task of get- It may be considered as a severe damage ting free from the parents of whom he now during the course of his personality for- has a low opinion and of replacing them mation and rearing status that caused the by others, who, as a rule, are of higher so- manifold traits, habits and environmental cial standing.” (2010) impacts. Manet’s neurotic condition is Manet’s misconception of “money” as recognizably determined by having failed the symbolic object of fatherly power and to integrate the building blocks of his per- grace, and motherly caring love and pro- sonality and orchestrates all dimensions tection, led him to extravagant expendi- of his life simultaneously. This is because: tures as a secure defense mechanism for “For a small child his parents are at first his abandoned and reckless daily life with the only authority and the source of all be- no insightful perspective for the future liefs. The later stage in the development of consequences. Fanciful life added to his ...... THE TRAGIC DEATH OF EDOUARD MANET

his sickbed continued to paint portraits of women, still-life, landscapes, and flowers (Image 9, Lilac Flowers in the Vase).

Psychopathological Disorders For Manet, the mental damage was already done: shattered personality, faded self-acceptance, identity crisis, paradoxical thoughts and feelings with no structured definition of life. Because of constant exposure and unrestrained indul- gence to sensual pleasures combined with the experience of severe inferiority and weak ego, made Manet to impersonate his

Image 9. Lilac in a gloss, 1882, still life, Oil on weaknesses under the ornate intellectual canvas. National gallery, Berlin, Germany. A modernism and a narcissistic exploitation. series of flower paintings in bed, close to Confusing fluctuation between the high termination. social status and shameful inferiority may fantasizing artistic mind. lead one to a narcissistic syndrome as a 69 To respond to his “need” of unconscious glamorous and socially prominent persona gain of fatherly and authoritative figures’ to cover the existing yet hidden inferiority approval, Manet displaced himself as and lack of self-acceptance. (Saleh, 2009, the father to possess Leenhoff, and other 145). The vivid examples in Manet’s ex- courtesans as his symbolic mother to re- travagant paintings are The Luncheon on venge the father’s betrayal and compen- the Grass, and Olympia. These paintings sate the victimized mother. Because of the reveal the way on how the artist mytholo- untamed mentality, he never experienced gized and glorified the family members as a reined framed and steady life to main- the subject matter for his art. These types tain his peace of mind. of art works convey an insecure symbiotic attachment within family members, which Manet’s Physical Illnesses do not pave the road to independency and Manet was suffering from catastroph- gain of ‘self-awareness’ and cognition to ic physical health. The untreated syphilis maintain a personal boundary as a protec- and rheumatism from his forties, instigat- tive barrier for his inner and the outside ed considerable pain and partial paralysis world. from ‘locomotors ataxia’ ensued in his left These kinds of arts, can be considered foot to be amputated because of gangrene. as a projection of unfulfilled ‘needs’ for The last months of his life, Manet was emotional support and unmet trustable unable to visit his studio, but even from protection from the family and constant Quarterly Fourth Year, No. 17 Winter 2016 ......

devaluation of the ‘self’ from the family. thinkers and critics, the church authori- Mythologizing the family or the Freud- ties, and the whole society. However, the ian FamilyRomance frequently structured most contrasting, contentious, and unre- Manet’s compositional choice of models. strained lavish life-style as a philanderer The family’s sensual ethics based on vul- defiance combined with illusive narcissis- garism as a customary volatile contrivance tic and family pride, caused the loss of ba- for shameless and abandoned develop- sic building blocks of ethical codes. These ment of sexuality with no framed control characteristics are expressed in every cor- added to his neurotic romance. ner of his symbolic, explicit, radical and Neurotic narcissism may be the con- appalling paintings. The paintings that sequence of repression, conflict and sup- had no consideration of the ethical prin- pressed or disarrayed desires that some- ciples of his contemporaries’ values, cast how during the later stages of the growth doubt to the sanity of the painter and se- will be projected. Especially in cases of verely dubious and questionable remarks artists like Manet with stronger visual to be deliberated. imagery and perceptive memory who are The effect of personal entities, fami- constantly dealing with vocal and objects ly’s structure, unsteady vein, fluctuation of sensuality at household and surround- between the feverish social concern for 70 ing, neurotic narcissism appears more freedom and justice, caused disrespect to seriously. In Manet’s aristocratic back- his ‘self’ by uncontrollable insane expe- ground, sensuality was considered as a riences. The artistic ability, as a magical way of class value. The more nudity and tool at hand, merged with aristocratic and seducing from women and the more phi- insane mentality, grimy wealth, untamed landering from men would have been val- social power produced infernal and gro- ued as pride and elegance within the fam- tesque beauty by his capable hands in art. ily frame. These were enough annihilating posses- On the other hand, Manet’s rebellious, sions with the lack of meaningful internal intellectual and anti-social thoughts and and external inhibitors, and other known activities against the ruling power along and unknown factors that directed Manet with protesting the social injustice in towards a weak ego and distorted insight France, and his foresight for the inexo- to be able to protect his ‘self ‘ , and sens- rable rise of new socio-political- cultural es the respect of body-mind, for not being and aesthetic order at his time, appeared drawn in the Depth of nihility. in a number of his works, such as: the Perhaps the dark shade of Europe’s series of ‘Execution of Maximilian’, and Victorian era with destructive dominance his connection with intellectuals Europe’s of church on human destiny, can be count- 18th century to this extreme of radical ed too, as an inhibitor for Manet to enjoy and sharp divergent from the social stand- the dignified the artistic seclusion. Such ards was not distinct and tolerable to art inhibitors prohibited Manet to sublime in- ...... THE TRAGIC DEATH OF EDOUARD MANET side for absorbing the essence and mean- revenge from ‘unworthy self’ and ‘the so- ing of aesthetic beauty and truth which ciety, ‘the whole body of no value’! could convey his protest for social injus- “Modernity is brilliant by nature, but tice as a sharp and revered language. beside its advantages, the harmful impact Manet’s demanding character to re- of modernism has engendered a devas- spond to his fixated instinctual needs, tating split in the integrated self of con- drastically devastated his physical health, temporary man. By separating from the which can be possible causes for expressed original self and complete engagement in his radical movement in impressionist with the outside world, the unconscious paintings. Such paintings were used as an identity of new humans is brutally devas- opposing tool to classical sentimentalism tated. They no longer have vision to see and a revengeful heralding to the corrupt- that their whole being is not annihilated, ed ruling power. Ironically, what Manet nor their conscious life is harmonized was criticizing the ruling power for, was with their true nature. (Saleh, 1995, 1). somehow his own way of life. Manet with According to Freud (1910), an artist has “double persona” was covering his true an easy access to his “primary sources of self behind the impressive persona of his thinking (instinctual entities) and second- Impressionist paintings. In other word, he ary sources of thinking, (logical entities). unconsciously did not accept the way he For Manet, his environment has affected 71 lived. The inner paradoxical conflicts of his creative thought and had an immeasur- values caused severe traumas and even- able impact on the art globally. The ‘need’ tually reflected through a traumatic sado- for actualization and sublime and instinc- masochistic disorder. He was in a denial tual desire for respect, ultimately dictated defense of the situation, an implicit re- his private life. venge from unworthy and incapable ‘self’, However, “Manet’s modernity lies, and from the society, the whole body of no above all, in his eagerness to update old- value, throughout his life! er genres of painting by injecting new Manet’s movement had two folded par- content or by altering the conventional adoxical revelation: revealing the polluted elements. He did so with an acute sensi- real image of the corrupted ruling power tivity to historical tradition and contem- in 18th century France for mindfulness porary reality. This was also undoubtedly and awareness of people; and also, to the root cause of many of the scandals he the contrary, abandoning the modernity’s provoked” (The Art Story, 2016).Through moral ties by shaking the structure of aes- Picasso’s artworks, in particular his Cubic thetics’ respect, the definition of instinc- paintings, Jung foresaw the annihilation of tual values, the archetypal grace of the modern man by separating from his true essence of beauty to revere unconsciously self and inapt mother-child rearing. Jung and his sadomasochistic attitudes, was a by analyzing Picasso’s artworks manifest- denial defense of the situation – a hidden ed that detachment from maternal entities, Quarterly Fourth Year, No. 17 Winter 2016 ......

original self and universal collectivity are significant indications of self - disintegra- tion leading to psychic imbalance. This separation has initiated obstructions for the bright side of his nature, and has pro- vided circumstances for powerful ruling of shadows upon his complete whole.” (Saleh, 1995, 2). Manet undertook a lifetime struggle to conquer “shadows, the thing a person has no wish to be” (Jung, 470), and re- unify his fractured personality to achieve Image 10. Suicide. The departure from Realism to Impressionism 38 cm × 46 cm. Oil on his individuation. (Image 4). However, he Canvas.1877–1881 seemingly paid a heavy price by long life Foundation E.G. Bührle, Zurich, Switzerland. harmful struggle for excessive desires, ex- him painful end of life in the years prior perienced depressive and unsteady mood, to his tragic departing at the age of fif- self - destruction through a self-denial ty-one. (Oxford, 2013, 85). Meanwhile, and involvement with unhealthy affaires, in his will, he left his estate to Suzanne 72 which resulted in syphilis with no sense of and obliged her to leave everything to respect to his dignity, and the holiness of Leon upon her death, which for all prac- his body. This caused psychosomatic dis- tical purposes confirms Leon as Édouard eases: a shattered personality; elimination Manet’s son and heir. (The Art Story, cited of body by amputation of his leg (symbol- 2016). ically the pillar, representing the man’s Legacy After his death, Manet’s wife power and dignity), nervous breakdown and friends worked to secure his memory and incapability to resume his wholeness and legacy, through extraordinary sales of and to achieve his individuation. Finally his paintings, acquisitions by the French by a thorough self - grievance, as a sym- government, and by publishing several bolic suicide, Edouard Manet drained to biographies, Though Manet’s astonishing the abyss of the dark annihilation and con- creative mind was considered by many art ceded to a traumatic ending. (Image 10, historians as the father of Impressionist Suicide). movement in the world of painting through strong visionary and gentle imagination; an immeasurable source of inspiration The Tragic Departure of Edouard for the later modern art. Manet’s creative Manet mind and tainted life paved the way and Succumbing to a nervous disorder- detrimentally faded the moral boundaries. most likely from tertiary syphilis – caused Worth mentioning that lack of thor- ...... THE TRAGIC DEATH OF EDOUARD MANET ough inference of who Sigmund Freud ed his private life. (The Art Story, cited is, and what valuable scholarly thoughts 2016). and ideas has left for future scientists to A question from Edouard Manet, the art- investigate on the human mind - body’s ist; Auguste, Manet, the judge, Suzanne (including sexual issues) interconnec- Leenhoof, the mother! And as a wakeup tivity and the roots and causes of behav- call to the consciences of all humans. iors’ disarrays. But people’s ignorance Is the catastrophic TRAGEDY OF LE- or ill-preoccupation has allowed them to ONS of ‘all times’ and ‘all spaces’ thor- have a naive misconception and misin- oughly heard, seen, or perceived by hu- terpretation of all the incredible scholar- mans? ly effort of Freud to study human. Freud, The lost child in the blurred abstraction of the thinker, the father of psychoanalysis, the family romance? the neuroscientist and surgeon, the laure- Is the “TRAGEDY OF LEON” ate,... and a sage with piety in his own per- profoundly heard, seen, or perceived? sonal life, by superficial beliefs, became The ‘lost identity’ of a child in the blurred the center of accusation for spreading the abstraction of the family romance, ever insanity and sexual disarrays in Europe painted? A symbolic representation of and all over the world from the 19th cen- victim children -THE LEONS OF ALL tury. whereas, what Freud theorized was TIMES AND ALL PLACES! Any sign or 73 a revelation of immense detrimental sex- address of a shattered SELF identity of a ual problems and abnormality using an child with no dignified frame of reference available experimental laboratory at hand who is fluctuating to the chasm of noth- (the European society) to show the facts ingness? (Image 11). of what was going on in the Europe at that era, and conceptualized what had detrimental impact on human health issues. the Impressionist movement by breaking the moral norms and having no boundaries, had already begun in the Europe a century before of Freud! What Freud theorized, seemingly was an intelligible and scientific revelation of the behind the curtains of Victorian era in Europe. However, despite his relatively short career, Manet’s artworks are held in the most major international museums and galleries. The greatness and scandal char- Image 11, Luncheon in the Studio 1868. Oil on canvas; 118 × 154 cm. Neue Pinakothek, Munich. acterized his professional life and his desire for respectability ultimately dictat- Quarterly Fourth Year, No. 17 Winter 2016 ......

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