By John Silverton
Edouard Manet (1832 – 83), one of the most original and unconventional painters of the nineteenth century, influenced the French Impressionists and avant-garde movements. Several of his paintings inflamed Parisian bourgeois sensibilities and outraged critical opinion. Why? Because Manet broke with convention and painted naked women of his time in provocative situations, offending the societal norms of female modesty. Until the late nineteenth century nudes were only considered acceptable if suitably idealized, usually in a mythological scenario.
Le dejeuner sur l’herbe (Luncheon on the Grass) painted 1863, is Manet’s most well-known painting, depicting two clothed men and a naked woman seated in a woodland glade with the remnants of a picnic. Behind them a second woman, scantily dressed, crouches in a stream. Manet’s nude was not only of the time but she disturbingly confronts the viewer with a daring gaze; the viewer is encouraged to join the party as voyeur. An overturned luncheon basket is a symbol of the loss of innocence; oysters, regarded as an aphrodisiac, have been consumed evidenced by the empty shells. The partially clothed woman in the stream is washing her genitals, perhaps after sexual activity.
The power of this painting has influenced many artists since, including versions by Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne and Jeff Koons. A three-dimensional life-size tableau by American sculptor J Seward Johnson Jr. is amusingly titled: Déjeuner Déjà Vu
In 1927, Welsh singer Donald Peers (1908 – 73) recorded a song reminiscent of Manet’s woodland scene. A popular crooner from the 1920s through to the 1950s, Peers performed on radio, television and in films. His song, In a Shady Nook by a Babbling Brook, was a huge hit and became his signature tune. The Manet painting and Peers song inspired The Picnic, adapted here from the novel, A Pearl Amongst Oysters.
The sun-drenched day suggested a picnic in the country. They motored into the South Downs National Park, homesteads giving way to meadows of cows chewing-the-cud before hillsides of perpetually grazing sheep. They parked the car and after a short walk sought the welcome shade beneath an oak tree. They admired a view straight from Constable’s palette: a field sprinkled with sheep, farm workers’ rustic cottages and lofty trees dwarfed by a church steeple.
They laid out their repast and ate and drank their fill. Suzie was Chinese from Hong Kong and, notwithstanding British colonial influences, picnics were not part of Chinese culture. John explained that lunching al fresco was introduced by the French and quickly adopted as an English pastime. Picnic scenes were painted into art and, with a wry smile, he produced a dog-eared postcard depicting Manet’s Le dejeuner sur l’herbe. Suzie eyed the picture suspiciously, conscious of the implication that unclothed women were the accepted norm for picnics. She looked at John askance.
‘You expect me to take my clothes off?’
‘Of course,’ he said, with an encouraging nod, ‘it’s traditional.’
With a look of scepticism, a short mocking laugh escaped her lips and her nose wrinkled as if trying to sniff out the truth of John’s assertion. But she smiled coyly, possibly acquiescent to the idea.
They sat propped up against the tree with their arms around each other enjoying their togetherness, admiring the view and appreciating the pastoral tranquillity. Two swallows playfully swooped and soared and they watched their aerobatics until they disappeared into a nearby wood.
‘Let’s follow,’ said John, with the enthusiasm of a boy scout wanting his next badge.
They gathered belongings and followed a stony, rutted farm track. A bevy of grazing sheep watched as they entered the wood by a footpath that snaked into the welcome coolness beneath the foliage canopy. Wild flower scents greeted their entry and a pigeon cooed in the sublimity of it all. A stream trickled its meandering way, as inviting as the one painted by Manet. A Donald Peers refrain came to mind:
#In a shady nook,
By a babbling brook,
That’s where I fell in love with you. #
There was no doubting their feelings for each other and in a shady nook by the stream they took off their clothes.
Author Bio:
John Silverton is the author of A Pearl Amongst Oysters, a passionate suspenseful interracial romance spanning fifty years and two continents, available in paperback from Amazon Books.
A collection of short stories will be published later this year. John is twice winner of the Anderida Writers short story competition, 2024 and 2026, and a collection of stories is due for publication. A second novel, a crime thriller set in the art market, will be published in 2027.
Contact Author:
Email: johnsilverton@hotmail.co.uk
