With a Soul Full of Sunshine

A book and visual exhibition "With a Soul Full of Sunshine", dedicated to the 190th anniversary of the birth of the French painter Édouard Manet (1832–1883) is on show in the Fine Arts Reading Room (room 306) from January 14 to February 9.

Among the brilliant masters of nineteenth-century French art, Édouard Manet ranks among the most outstanding. His colouristic discoveries and new understanding of painting principles had a decisive influence on an entire generation of artists who embraced the principle of the frozen moment. Manet became the inspirer and forerunner of Impressionism. He linked two eras in the world of painting in an amazing way: without rejecting the classical tradition, he laid the foundations of the art of the Modern Age.

The innovative elements of Édouard Manet aroused the resentment of the academic school. The exhibition depicts the artist's arduous creative career, during which he was subjected to fierce criticism and fought against the misunderstanding of others. Reproductions of the famous paintings Breakfast on the Grass and Olympia, which the painter exhibited at the Salon des Outcasts and caused scandalous public outrage, are on display.

Manet's artistic talent encouraged him to seek out subjects for his paintings at all times and everywhere. This has defined the wide thematic range of his works. The exhibition features still lifes, portraits and landscapes that capture the individual uniqueness of each phenomenon. Portrait painting, interwoven with the genre art, was one of the main areas of the master's work. The famous Young Flautist, one of the artist's greatest creative successes, will attract the attention of visitors. The best qualities of Manet's art are embodied with the utmost perfection in A Bar at the Folies-Bergère. A reproduction of a masterpiece depicting a pretty girl at the bar rounds off the exhibition.

About 60 documents are presented at the exhibition. These are books, albums, postcards and reproductions that reveal to the viewer the extent of Manet's artistic personality.

The books presented at the exhibition can be ordered through the electronic catalogue of the National Library of Belarus.

The opening hours of the exhibition correspond to the library’s opening hours.
Admission is by the library card or by the Social and Cultural Centre ticket.

For more info: (+375 17) 293 27 53.

Special Collections Service Department.