MuseumArchive

Fish (Still Life)

Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883)

1864

View the original

$18

Type

Size · in

Secure checkout · powered by Stripe

Materials & printing

Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.

Shipping & returns

Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.

Why is it this affordable?

A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.

About this work

Although still-life ensembles were an important element in many of the major paintings of the avant-garde artist Édouard Manet, his most sustained interest in the genre itself was from 1864 to 1865, when Fish was painted. Manet’s focus on still lifes coincided with the gradual reacceptance of the genre during the nineteenth century, due in part to the growth of the middle class, whose tastes ran to intimate, moderately priced works. This painting, like many of Manet’s still-life compositions, recalls seventeenth-century Dutch models. The directness of execution, bold brushwork, and immediacy of vision displayed in the canvas, however, suggest why the public found Manet’s work so unorthodox and confrontational. While Fish is indeed an image of “dead nature” (nature morte is the French term for still life), there is nothing still about the work: the produce seems fresh and the handling of paint vigorous. Further enlivening the composition is the placement of the carp, which offsets the strong diagonal of the other elements. Manet never submitted his still lifes to the official French Salon but rather sold them through the burgeoning network of art galleries in Paris and gave them to friends.

Medium
Oil on canvas
Original size
73.5 × 92.4 cm (28 15/16 × 36 3/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago · 1942.311 ↗
Museum record · 5 owners · 24 exhibitions

Provenance

  • The artist; possibly sold to Basset, Paris, 1867; sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, April 1872, for 250 francs; possibly sold to Jean-Baptiste Faure (d. 1914), Paris, November 16, 1874, for 1,500 francs.
  • Félix Gérard, Paris, by 1884.
  • Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, by 1900.
  • John W. Simpson (d. 1920), New York, by November 22, 1913; by descent to Mrs. John W. Simpson (née Kate Seney), New York, 1920.
  • Knoedler and Co., New York, April 18, 1942; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, July 1942.

Exhibitions

  • Paris, Galerie Martinet, 1865.
  • Paris, Place de l’Alma, Exhibition Manet Particulière, May 1867.
  • Paris, Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Exposition des oeuvres d’Édouard Manet, Jan. 1884.
  • Paris, Exposition Internationale Universelle, Exposition Centennale de l’Art Français, 1880–1889, 1900.
  • Paris, Manzi, Joyant et Cie, Exposition d’art moderne, 1912.
  • New York, Durand-Ruel Gallery, Paintings by Édouard Manet, Nov. 29-Dec. 13, 1913.
  • New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Loan Exhibition of Old Masters, Nov. 29-Dec. 11, 1920.
  • Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Paintings, Édouard Manet, Pierre Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Oct. 15-Dec. 1, 1924; Cleveland Museum of Art, Dec. 9, 1924-Jan. 15, 1925.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Catalogue of the Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition, June 26–Oct. 4, 1936.
  • New York, Wildenstein & Co., Édouard Manet: A Retrospective Exhibition for the Benefit of French Hospitals, Mar.–Apr. 1937.
  • New York, Wildenstein & Co., organized by Institute of Modern Art, The Sources of Modern Painting, Apr.–May 1939.
  • New York, World’s Fair, Masterpieces of Art, May–October 1940.
  • The Art Institute of Chicago, Masterpiece of the Month, Feb. 1944, no cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Manet, Nov. 3–Dec. 11, 1965; Art Institute of Chicago, Jan. 13-Feb. 19, 1966.
  • New York, Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Triumph of Realism, 1967; Richmond, VA, Museum of Fine Arts, Dec. 11, 1967–Jan. 14, 1968; San Francisco, Feb. 17–Mar. 31, 1968.
  • Albi, France, Musée Toulous-Lautrec, Trésors impressionists du musée de Chicago, June 27–Aug. 31, 1980.
  • Paris, Galeies Nationales du Grand Palais, Manet (1832–1883), Apr. 22–Aug. 1, 1983; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Se.
  • 27, 1983.
  • Copenhagen, Ordrupgaard, Edouard Manet, Se.
  • 10, 1989.
  • Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Manet les natures mortes, Oct. 9, 2000-Jan. 7, 2001; Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery, Jan. 30-Apr. 22, 2001.
  • The Art Institute of Chicago, Manet and the Sea, Oct. 20, 2003-Jan. 19, 2004, no cat. no.; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Feb. 15-May 30, 2004; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, June 18-Se, 2004.
  • Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008.
  • Toledo, OH, Toledo Museum of Art, ONE EACH: Still Lifes by Pissarro, Cézanne, Manet, & Friends, Jan. 18-Apr. 12, 2020, no cat.; Cincinnati Art Museum, Mar. 11-May 8, 2022.
  • Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, In Your Wildest Dreams: James Ensor Beyond Impressionism, Se, 2024–Jan. 5, 2025, fig. 42.
More prints by Édouard Manet →French prints →Still Life prints →

More like this