Edouard Manet and Inez & VinoodhOriginally titled Le Bain, Edouard Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe or Luncheon on the Grass, was debuted in 1863 to rather mixed reviews ranging from laughter to outrage. Although Manet’s titillating picnic scene was in reference to Titian’s 16th-century painting Concert champêtre, which featured a similar composition of nude females amongst dressed men, Manet’s figures where not represented in a mythological or allegorical manner. In Manet’s version, the men are dressed in contemporary fashions of the period, suggesting a jarring realism. Manet’s famous painting has been referenced by countless artists and photographers since its debut and continues to inspire to this day. In 2013, Dutch photographer team Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin recreated the famous scene for Christian Dior’s Fall 2013 campaign video, “Secret Garden 2 — Versailles,” a sequel the previous year’s “Secret Garden” video.


Lunch on the Grass by Edouard Manet, 1863, Housed at the Musée d'Orsay

Lunch on the Grass by Edouard Manet, 1863, Housed at the Musée d’Orsay

Still from “Secret Garden 2 — Versailles,” by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for Christian Dior Fall 2013

Still from “Secret Garden 2 — Versailles,” by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for Christian Dior Fall 2013

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