Monet vs Manet: What Is the Difference?
Monet and Manet were two different French painters, and good friends, whose names sit just one letter apart. Edouard Manet was the older scandal maker who bridged Realism and Impressionism.
Claude Monet was the younger painter of light who founded it. People have mixed them up for over a century.
They were two people, and good friends
The confusion is old. At the Paris Salon of 1865, visitors congratulated Edouard Manet on some admired seascapes that were actually by the young Claude Monet. Manet was furious that a near namesake was getting his praise.
They soon became friends. Manet was the established figure, Monet the rising one, and the eight years between them showed.
If you want to go past the surface
If you want the detail rather than the summary:
Was Monet really the first Impressionist, the painting that may have got there first
Inside Monet house at Giverny, room by room, including his own bedroom
The Ambassadors, detail by detail, the object at the bottom that only works from one side
Edouard Manet, the scandalous bridge
Manet, born in 1832, painted people and modern city life. He shocked Paris with Olympia and Luncheon on the Grass, used strong blacks, worked mostly in the studio, and spent his life chasing the official Salon. He died in 1883 at just 51.
He also painted his sister in law Berthe Morisot again and again, a story I tell in the 11 portraits Manet made of Berthe Morisot.
He is usually called the father of modern art, the man who broke the old rules even though he wanted to belong.
Claude Monet, the painter of light
Monet, born in 1840, painted landscapes and light. He worked outdoors, chased the same subject across a day in series like haystacks, cathedrals and water lilies, and used almost no black at all. He lived to 86 and died rich in 1926.
His painting Impression, Sunrise gave the whole movement its name. Monet is Impressionism in its purest form.
How to tell them apart
Here is the cheat sheet I use:
Manet: people and scandal, strong blacks, studio scenes, born 1832, died young.
Monet: landscapes and light, almost no black, painted outdoors in series, born 1840, lived long.
If it is a nude staring back at you or a Paris bar, it is Manet.
If it is a pond, a haystack or a cathedral in shifting light, it is Monet.
The favor that saved Olympia
Their friendship outlived Manet. After he died, his scandalous Olympia risked being sold abroad. It was Monet who led a public fundraising drive in 1890 to buy it for France.
Thanks to the painter people kept confusing him with, Manet's most notorious work stayed in Paris, where it hangs today.
Monet and Manet, quick answers
Are Monet and Manet the same person? No. They were two separate painters and friends.
Were they related? No, not by blood. They were close friends and allies.
Who came first? Manet was older, born in 1832. Monet was born in 1840.
Who lived longer? Monet, by far. He outlived Manet by 43 years.
How do I remember which is which? Manet has an a for man: people and figures. Monet has an o for outdoors: light, gardens and water.
One letter, two friends
Two names a single letter apart, two very different painters, one real friendship. When Manet's Olympia almost left the country, it was Monet who kept it home. I dig into each of them in Edouard Manet and Claude Monet.