Victorine Meurent Photos Used for Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe Found in Grenoble

Researcher Laure Boyer discovered in May 2026 that photographic prints of Victorine Meurent, held in the Musée de Grenoble's collection, served as direct models for Édouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (1863). Two wet-collodion photographs show Meurent posed as the nude woman sitting on the grass and reclining, matching the painting's composition and lighting. The discovery confirms that Manet used photography to achieve his much-debated 'flat' style, which Courbet criticized. Victorine Meurent (1844–1927) was Manet's favorite model, painted nine times between 1862 and 1873, and also posed for Olympia. The article also covers lesser-known aspects of Manet's life: his naval voyage to Rio de Janeiro in 1848–49 before becoming an artist; his rivalry with Courbet over nude painting; his refusal to join Impressionist exhibitions despite being linked to the movement; his admiration for Spanish art and culture, including a trip to Spain in 1865; and the anecdote of the asparagus painting (1880) where Manet sent collector Charles Ephrussi a tiny painting of a single asparagus after being overpaid. Manet died at 51 from syphilis.