
Édouard Manet – Le Suicidé (c. 1877-1881)
“The pictorial content of the painting is limited to a man who appears to have just shot himself—still holding a gun while slouched on a bed—and a few pieces of furniture. Manet has removed the trappings of earlier depictions of suicide, and provided next to no narrative content or ‘moralizing tendency.’ Manet’s approach to this depiction may represent his continuing desire to break from academic tradition, in which a depiction of suicide could only fit within the genre of history painting—where death and suicide would be placed within a narrative associated with sacrifice, idealism, or heroism. The artist has not given us a time, a place, or a protagonist. The painting is plainly constructed rather than carefully styled.”
– From Wikipedia









