The Brioche by Édouard Manet (1870)

Manet transformed the art world by audaciously staging subjects from European old master painting in contemporary terms, using bold brushwork and color. This masterful still life exemplifies the artist's achievements in the genre that he once reportedly called "the touchstone of the painter." Still lifes were central to his creative practice, both as an independent subject and as a key element in the scenes of modern life that earned him fame.
Some French families top a brioche with a flower on Easter morning as a symbol of resurrection, but the presence of plums, peaches, and grapes in this canvas suggests that Manet painted it after Easter, during the summer of 1870. The composition and the soft color harmonies of the blossom and fruit pay homage to Jean Siméon Chardin's painting The Brioche (1763), which the Louvre acquired the previous year. Manet made the motif his own with dramatic tonal contrasts and self-assured, palpable brushwork, particularly evident in his handling of the white fringed napkin and the rose petals, set off against a dark backdrop.