"Haussmann's grand design for the reconstruction of Paris was being carried forward by the Third Republic, and the city was now laced with wide, tree-lined avenues." (Schneider 1972: 134) In fact, the modern city of Paris is based on the city that was built by Haussmann and the modern perception of Paris as being the artistic and cultural centre that it is known for, is chiefly based on Haussman's design and re-modelling of the city.
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The art of Edouard Manet depicted modern life in the new Paris, as advocated by the writer Baudelaire. Charles Pierre Baudelaire was a writer in nineteenth century Paris, a contemporary of Manet, who knew Manet personally, and who wrote about the idea of modern life. Baudelaire encouraged the artists of the day to paint modern scenes, such as looking at the world around them for inspiration, rather than turning to scenes from the past, or idealised romanticism that was popular in the first half of the century.
In 1863 Baudelarie published his views on modern art in a book called The Painter of Modern Life, which was "widely held to be the source from which Manet drew his ideas about art." (Brombert 1996: 59) He wrote in this book that the painter should emphasise both the negative and positive aspects of the new city; the spectacular entertainments, and the seedy underbelly as well.
The modern life displayed in Manet's paintings, was copied and followed by several of the impressionists such as Renoir, who also painted modern scenes. Compared to the other impressionists, Manet's art is much more modern, much more involved in the city and the people living in what was for him, contemporary Paris. Of course, images of contemporary life had been made before Manet came along, but with him "the persistence and intensity of modern imagery...is much more a dominant characteristic." (Hanson 1977: 34)
Manet's scenes of modern life in Paris influenced the impressionist painters. Art of Paris in the time of the Impressionists such as Manet increasingly depicted modern life. The realism of such painters as Gustave Courbet depicted scenes of peasants in the fields, ordinary people working or standing around a funeral, as in the Burial at Ornans in 1849.
This type of art was further developed by Manet, who went from outdoor scenes such as the infamous Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe to scenes of Paris life. The people, buildings and life of Paris became the subject for the modern painter, "This is the setting for the painter of modern life:...the streets of Paris in all their elegance and sordidness."