Friendship for convenience?

In the Café, 1878

Fantin-Latour, Manet, 1867

Year 1866: Édouard Manet, 34 years old, part of a bourgeois family, used to dress always elegantly. He was affable, really social and had an ironical humor. His father prepared him for Laws, but Édouard dedicated his life to painting. Every year he presented his works in the Salon: some were straightly turned down, but others would be accepted. He was already known for his scandal with his “Le Déjeneur sur l'herbe” and his “Olympia”. For his economical situation, he never really needed to sell and this gave him more freedom: he did not care about creating polemic or transgressing.

Manet, Portrait of Émil Zola, 1868

Émile Zola: 26 years old, born in Paris, but raised in the province, in Aix-en-Provence, was Cézanne’s childhood friend. When his mother widowed, they return to Paris and suffer several economical shortages. By this time, he had already quit his job in Hachette and taken up literature. He was columnist at L’Évenement (which would later be known as Le Figaro), where he would write articles supporting new ways of painting, impressionism and being against the jury of the official Salon. Cézanne connected him with the group: they would meet in Café Guerbois with Renoir, Degas, Sisley, Fantin-Latour, Whistler, Bazille, Monet…

In that café, in February that year, Guillemet introduces each other. Manet takes him to his atelier, which was not far away, and shows him his works, between them, the 2 scandalous ones. At that precise moment, a new friendship was born, which would last until Manet’s death in 1833: 18 years in which Zola would defend and support Manet unconditionally, who would thank him for it, but without doing really much more about it.

Manet, despite being considered the leader of the ‘band’, never exhibited with them. He wanted to legitimize himself by exhibiting in the official Salon, no matter how much it would cost him. Turned down once again by the Universal Exhibition in 1867, he organizes a private and parallel exhibition in his atelier, to which 10000 people attended. For this occasion, (pure marketing) Zola publishes a critical study about the painter in a booklet (the one with light blue cover on the desk in his portrait).

This portrait in 1868 was painted as a way of gratitude, but Zola did not like it much and just focused on how masterly his hand was painted. Maybe the amount of references to Manet in the painting disturbed him: it told more about the painter than about the portrayed one.

Manet, In the conservatory, 1879

Was there an actual friendship between them? It’s evident Zola wanted to make a name, as the supporter of the rejected painter and using the polemics caused by his paintings. He was the first journalist understanding the power of the media and using for his personal profit. Did he ever believe in Manet’s art? In the beginning, yes he did. And what about Manet? He was always thankful, and of course, the publicity done by his friend would never be a bad thing.

Manet, Nana, 1877

Manet tended to read Zola’s novels and his paintings are infested by his ideas, for example, “In the Conservatory” and “Nana”. “Nana” is a direct allusion to a novel by Zola. Some of the novels are also influenced by the paintings: Manet’s Olympia (1863) is Thérèse Raquin (1867). Was this just market strategy? Was it planned or just fruit of the conversations between them?

In 1879, Zola writes “Letters from Paris” for a Russian newspaper: he manifests himself disillusioned towards the evolution of impressionist painting; he considers they got stuck in the first steps, and that they are just pioneers, that the big change never really happened. He criticizes Manet too. It was big news: they had fought! Zola writes immediately to Manet pointing out he was referring to Monet instead and that it was a translating mistake (?). Manet demanded that he published that apologize letter in that newspaper.

When Manet died, his family asks Zola to write the prologue of the catalogue of the exhibition that was organized as homage. He said he was 26 years old, and that at that moment, it was his duty to defend the beaten one.

Manet, Le Déjeuneur sur l'herbe, 1863

Manet is a product of Zola: he turned him into a “celebrity”. Would he be so famous as he is now without the help of his friend? Was their friendship genuine or just based on interests? We’ll never know.

Sources: Biele-Wrunsch, M. Die Künstlerfreundschaft zwischen Édouard Manet und Émile Zola.

Berlin, Driesen V., 2009;

Zola, É. Escritos sobre Manet. Madrid, ABADA editores, 2010

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