The Lost Notebook of Édouard Manet
At 51 years old, Manet died too young of the ravages of syphilis. Today major galleries and collectors revere his paintings, sketches and signed lithographs. To many, he showed the way from idealized realism to impressionism. This intimate first-person account details the last three years of Manet’s life (1880-83). Gibbon tells his story through a fictional journal that he gives to a maid on one of his last days. Eleven real Manet sketches add visual context.
The core of the journal covers Manet’s race to keep painting while the disease disables him more and more, with no cure in sight. Along the way, his reflections touch on everything from a colorful salamander found in the garden to his plans for the next stunning painting of a client or a series of paintings on Parisian women. He describes how he manages to keep toiling through mounting pain and debilitations. He writes of past loves, friends, clients, models, and earlier adventures. Manet comes across as deeply insightful with no regrets, no self-pity, and as always obsessed to sketch and paint any subject that interests him. He finishes some of his finest creations during this brutally hard time, including probably his most popular piece, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.
The first-person notebook allows intimacy but does have limitations. We must rely on Manet to describe accurately how others view him and his work. His journal entries are too clean, lyrical, and grammatically perfect for anyone’s private notes, particularly for someone in pain and often medicated. However, the novel is a deeply felt and honest portrait of one of the great painters of his or any generation.
