Édouard Manet

From a well-to-do family, Manet longed for success at the official Salon, yet his work caused scandal after scandal. By recasting classical subjects with flat colour and modern figures, he is often seen as the starting point of modern painting.

He was a mentor to the Impressionists but never exhibited with them. Illness led to the amputation of his leg late in life, and he died at fifty-one.