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Revealing the Mystery of Édouard Manet’s Secret Muse, Suzon, and His Deathbed Bouquets
- Sutithi
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
“Everything is mere appearance, the pleasures of a passing hour, a midsummer night's dream. Only painting, the reflection of a reflection—but the reflection, too, of eternity—can record some of the glitter of this mirage.”
- Édouard Manet
Though the art world has labelled Édouard Manet as a French Impressionist, he never wished to be branded in any way. Most importantly, he was the painter of the modern world, as he painted the rapidly changing urban landscape of his city, Paris, in the nineteenth century, capturing fleeting reflections through his family, friends, and acquaintances.
Edouard Manet’s paintings depicted the modern world, turning the city into a stage shaped by contemporary emotion. He was a radical thinker, often going back to his art, revisiting techniques to refine his artistic approach to address the changes happening around him and how they could contribute to the shifting narrative of society. A genius in his own right, Manet faced a lot of criticism for his bold and unabashed portrayals, like showing the authentic feelings of his subjects without pretension and reserve.
He didn’t live long enough to reveal the true intentions behind his creations, navigating a difficult path of art, love, and doubt, heralding a new dawn in European art. He lived to 51, suffering a tragic and slow ending, ravaged by syphilis and an amputated leg.
Yet nothing could stop him from painting his final masterpieces on his deathbed, leaving the art world completely awe-struck.
In this blog, we will explore the significant last few years of his life, his vibrant deathbed bouquets, and most importantly, his mysterious muse Suzon, whom he left unnamed in his 1882 creation A Bar at the Folies-Bergère. A novel by Maureen Gibbon, “The Lost Notebook of Édouard Manet,” reveals a deeply human story of an artist who invested in creating something ahead of his time despite fierce criticism and censure.
Édouard Manet: The Most Influential Name in Modern Art
Manet was not driven to make money from his art, as he was born to an affluent family. His father, who was a practicing judge, wanted him to pursue a career in law. His uncle used to take him to the Louvre Museum in Paris while he was in his teens. The “Father of Modern Art” was greatly influenced by the works of Francisco Goya, Frans Hals, Titian, Caravaggio, Vermeer, and Diego Velázquez.
He was drawn to paint the true reflections of what he saw and experienced. Though his nude studies, such as Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe and Olympia, shocked the world, there’s more to the artist with an extraordinary vision. For the artist, the reality was far more complicated, as he challenged the conventions through his controversial and banned art. That’s what shaped Manet’s creative struggles and his story of uncertainty and rebellion.
Edouard Manet Paintings: From Genre Scenes to the Dawn of Post-Impressionism
In his pursuit of exploring new ways of portraiture, Édouard Manet softened forms with broad brush strokes, applying quick, flat layers of paint that took the art world by storm. He approached every figure he painted with a keen eye of curiosity, often going back to where he started, pushing his boundaries even more.
The quintessential French modern artist treated genre painting in a totally different way. Through his distinguished and discernible style, he captured the essence of the contemporary society around late 19th-century France. He chose figures rooted in reality, as he couldn’t just paint anybody who walked up the street. He deliberately portrayed his family, friends, and models as his subjects, transposing them into his compositions as if they were the real actors.
Through his audacious endeavor, he progressed steadily, paving the way for Post-Impressionist ideas. The stark, representational Manet painting style served as a foundation for the Post-Impressionist artists to paint their masterpieces.
The Lost Notebook of Édouard Manet: Manet’s Life and Creations from 1880 to 83
The intimate novel by Maureen Gibbon, “The Lost Notebook of Édouard Manet,” highlights the last three years of Manet’s life from 1880-83 as he suffered from syphilis and a gangrenous foot. During this time of excruciating pain, Manet used to fill his notebook with reflections on his past love life, his friends and clients, models, and other adventures. And without a sense of guilt or self-pity, he immersed himself in painting some stunning images that caught his interest. He managed to finish some of the remarkable paintings of his lifetime during those years of illness.
He even traveled to the Parisian countryside to experience the serenity amidst the flutter of dragonflies and peonies soaked in morning dew. When he returned to Paris, he met his mysterious muse, Suzon, with blue eyes, and created “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère,” a deeply psychological portrait despite his deteriorating health.
Jeanne (Spring) (1881): Manet’s Impressionism as Explored through the Portrait of a French Actress
This is the portrait of the French actress Jeanne Demarsy, who personified the season Spring with her flowered dress and rosy hues on her cheeks and lips. Her supple demeanor suggests the poise and grace of an elite society she belonged to. This is a much softer and airy painting by Manet, quite contrary to his previous dark, sexually charged, and bold portraits. Perhaps due to his fragile health, he tried to capture the natural beauty and simple joys of life before he succumbed to his fate.
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882): The Muse with a Mysterious Gaze
In this painting of Parisian nightlife, a mysterious-looking barmaid can be seen, casting a reflection behind the giant mirror—an illusion that is hard to demystify because there is also a man standing in front of her.
In this busy bar in Paris, the barmaid looks quite glum while the ambiance is cheerful and animated. The Folies-Bergère was a popular music hall in Paris, and Manet frequented this place to make sketches. While Manet kept the barmaid’s name secret, she later came to be known as Suzon. Suzon’s vacant looks suggest how she became an object of the male gaze. Her eyes, full of pain, add another layer of detachment from the viewers.
Manet was often accused of portraying the authentic feelings of his characters. He would let his subjects have unique roles to play in the composition. The conversation between the barmaid, Suzon, and the man (seen from the mirror reflection) may be an optical trick and nothing more than that. With a closer look, we can relate to the detached emotion of Suzon as if she had traveled through time and space.
Manet’s Deathbed Bouquets: Vase of Lilac and Roses (1883)
This was Manet’s second-to-last painting—Manet had delved deep into these divine-looking roses and lilacs while he was suffering from intense pain. He poured all his energy into life’s simplest joys captured on canvas. With his confident and meditative strokes, these flowers became vividly alive and refreshing, as though they were real blooms. In close-up, one can see how he glided his brush strokes when he was doing these brilliant observational paintings with lyrical precision and detailing.
Manet left 16 such wonderful flower paintings that absorbed all of his creative energy, now existing in various museums and private collections—still looking resplendent, glowing, and alive. His ‘Vase de fleurs, roses et lilas’ was auctioned at Sotheby’s for an estimated $7,000,000–$10,000,000.
In Search of the True Manet: Édouard Manet Left Behind a Legacy of Reflections
Despite being an Impressionist painter, Édouard Manet refused to take part in the Impressionist exhibitions, though he presented his works in the Paris Salon.
Manet was in the process of evolving his style as he was getting influenced by the techniques of his fellow Impressionist artists like Monet, Degas, and Morisot. He started to handle lighting in a different way than he had before. But the tragedy remains with this quintessential creator of modern art—a lot of his works were misinterpreted as “true Manet,” which were dark and opaque, radical, and controversial.
The last few years of Manet's life confined him indoors, setting up his studio beside his bed so that his own paintings of gardens could serve as a backdrop for his figures. It was fascinating to see how he artistically merged indoor and outdoor spaces in his last few years’ paintings.
A genius, a rebel, and an intense observer of life died in 1883. Artist Edmond Bazire visited his studio to discover more of his serene flower paintings, as if they were still quivering in the glass vases.
He was desperately trying to hold onto life as time was passing; he knew these flowers, too, would not last forever. This was the true Manet, who refused to give up on life and left behind an explosion of freshness, soaked in the imagination of an artist who was forever intrigued to capture life’s fleeting beauty through his deeply human canvases.
