MoonlightandRoses
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2016
- Posts
- 532
Imagine you are walking in the country or perhaps a park and you come across four people. Three of these people are sitting on the ground – two of them notice you, while the third, still talking and gesturing with his hand, has not. To one side is a picnic basket – tipped so that a bread roll and some cherries have spilled out. All very normal except one of the women, the one who is sitting is completely naked. Her clothes are lying on the ground to the side. She has noticed you coming, as has the man sitting next to her. Perhaps you are a friend. The two men and a woman in the background are dressed – the men quite completely.
You note that neither the woman nor the man who have noticed you coming seem surprised or alarmed. The woman, the one who is naked, makes no attempt to cover herself or to get her clothing. She continues to sit as she has been sitting for what appears to have been some time. It seems that she and the two fully dressed men have been talking, perhaps discussing art or politics. In the background is a stream or a small lake where the second woman is standing, bent over, with her feet in the water. She is reaching down for something.
The presence of the water and the wading woman may offer an explanation as to why the woman who has noticed you is without any covering. Maybe she had been bathing, then dried off using the cloth she is now sitting on – her hair is slicked back so possibly it is still somewhat wet. She then, feeling no need to put her clothes on, sat down to join in conversation with the men. This is to me is the painting “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe” (1862) by Edouard Manet, See here: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/a5gI1dZH-QE/maxresdefault.jpg.
I am particularly intrigued by the nude woman’s expression and posture. My interpretation is that she is calm and self assured. She is in no way ashamed or embarrassed about being seen naked. It appears to me that she feels being seen naked is just as normal and acceptable as being seen with clothes on. She is as fully comfortable with her body as Michelangelo’s “David” is. The men also seem to feel this way about her nudity.
It has been stated that Victorine Meurent was the model for the woman in the foreground of this painting, however I also read that “The nude woman is a combination of both his [Manet’s] wife Suzanne Leenhoff and one of his other female models, Victorine Meurent.” If this is the case then looking at other pictures of Victorine Meurent and pictures of Suzanne Leenhoff it seems to me that Victorine was the model for the nude woman’s face and Suzanne would be the model for her body.
Manet has not depicted his subject as being the “perfect” nude, such as Alexandre Cabanel did in his “The Birth of Venus” done about the same time. Further in “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe” the naked woman is assertively looking at the viewer, while Cabanel’s Venus is only sneaking a look.
Some people seem to see the women in “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe” to be prostitutes. I have never seen it that way and I see nothing sexual in this painting. When the painting was exhibited in the "Salon des Refusés" Manet titled it “Le Bain” (The Bath). Emile Zola, a friend of Manet, described the painting in the following way “There is some foliage, a few tree trunks, and in the background a river in which a woman in a shift is bathing. In the foreground two young men are seated facing a second woman who has just emerged from the water and who is drying her naked body in the open air.” And he also writes: “This nude woman has shocked the public which has been unable to see anything but her in the picture. Good heavens! How indecent! What! A woman without a stitch of clothing seated between two fully clad men! Such a thing has never been seen before! But this belief is a gross error; in the Museum du Louvre there are more than fifty pictures in which clothed people mix with the naked.”
I see the nude woman in this painting as being treated as an equal by the men and given the situation she most likely is much more comfortable than the men are. The women have more freedom in that they are not bound by convention; instead it is the men who are in regard to them wearing jackets and ties at a picnic. What this illustrates to me is that being naked does not degrade a person. Being naked is just another way of being.
Moonlight and Roses,
PS, I also posted a number of links to “Reverse Le dejeuner sur l’herbes” in the topic “Women” comment #125.
You note that neither the woman nor the man who have noticed you coming seem surprised or alarmed. The woman, the one who is naked, makes no attempt to cover herself or to get her clothing. She continues to sit as she has been sitting for what appears to have been some time. It seems that she and the two fully dressed men have been talking, perhaps discussing art or politics. In the background is a stream or a small lake where the second woman is standing, bent over, with her feet in the water. She is reaching down for something.
The presence of the water and the wading woman may offer an explanation as to why the woman who has noticed you is without any covering. Maybe she had been bathing, then dried off using the cloth she is now sitting on – her hair is slicked back so possibly it is still somewhat wet. She then, feeling no need to put her clothes on, sat down to join in conversation with the men. This is to me is the painting “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe” (1862) by Edouard Manet, See here: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/a5gI1dZH-QE/maxresdefault.jpg.
I am particularly intrigued by the nude woman’s expression and posture. My interpretation is that she is calm and self assured. She is in no way ashamed or embarrassed about being seen naked. It appears to me that she feels being seen naked is just as normal and acceptable as being seen with clothes on. She is as fully comfortable with her body as Michelangelo’s “David” is. The men also seem to feel this way about her nudity.
It has been stated that Victorine Meurent was the model for the woman in the foreground of this painting, however I also read that “The nude woman is a combination of both his [Manet’s] wife Suzanne Leenhoff and one of his other female models, Victorine Meurent.” If this is the case then looking at other pictures of Victorine Meurent and pictures of Suzanne Leenhoff it seems to me that Victorine was the model for the nude woman’s face and Suzanne would be the model for her body.
Manet has not depicted his subject as being the “perfect” nude, such as Alexandre Cabanel did in his “The Birth of Venus” done about the same time. Further in “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe” the naked woman is assertively looking at the viewer, while Cabanel’s Venus is only sneaking a look.
Some people seem to see the women in “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe” to be prostitutes. I have never seen it that way and I see nothing sexual in this painting. When the painting was exhibited in the "Salon des Refusés" Manet titled it “Le Bain” (The Bath). Emile Zola, a friend of Manet, described the painting in the following way “There is some foliage, a few tree trunks, and in the background a river in which a woman in a shift is bathing. In the foreground two young men are seated facing a second woman who has just emerged from the water and who is drying her naked body in the open air.” And he also writes: “This nude woman has shocked the public which has been unable to see anything but her in the picture. Good heavens! How indecent! What! A woman without a stitch of clothing seated between two fully clad men! Such a thing has never been seen before! But this belief is a gross error; in the Museum du Louvre there are more than fifty pictures in which clothed people mix with the naked.”
I see the nude woman in this painting as being treated as an equal by the men and given the situation she most likely is much more comfortable than the men are. The women have more freedom in that they are not bound by convention; instead it is the men who are in regard to them wearing jackets and ties at a picnic. What this illustrates to me is that being naked does not degrade a person. Being naked is just another way of being.
Moonlight and Roses,
PS, I also posted a number of links to “Reverse Le dejeuner sur l’herbes” in the topic “Women” comment #125.
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