It will endure as the characteristic expression of his talent, as the highest mark of his power.…When other artists correct nature by painting Venus they lie. Manet asked himself why he should lie. Why not tell the truth?

French painter Édouard Manet, who died this day in 1883, broke with the historical tradition of illusionism and paved the way for Impressionism with such works as Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863; “Luncheon on the Grass”).