And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. (1 Thessalonians 5:14–15)

This painting embodies a final farewell to a difficult yet enduring friendship. Painter Edouard Manet (1832–83) depicted the funeral of his friend, the poet Charles Baudelaire (1821–67). The funeral took place in Paris on 2 September 1867 and relatively few people attended. Many of the poet’s friends were still on their summer vacations away from the city; others did not show due to a threatening summer storm. Dark grey clouds hover over the grassy sward on which the carriage with the coffin is followed by a small group of mourners. We see the funeral from a distance, allowing us a view of both the cemetery and the city’s skyline.

Nineteenth-century Paris was the stage for fast-paced changes and rapid secularization. In contrast to his poet friend, Manet remained a Catholic all his life. Baudelaire, who also grew up a Catholic, left his religion behind and became a fierce critic of organized religion.

The two men were also quite different in character. Whereas Manet continuously sought connections between art historical tradition and emerging Modernism, Baudelaire primarily experienced and expressed a sense of alienation from the societal changes around him. Manet embraced the possibilities of bridging tradition and the new, while for Baudelaire social estrangement was the very subject matter of his poetry.

The two men had a solid friendship despite such differences of outlook and artistic approach, embodying the compassion and patience which 1 Thessalonians 5 prescribes for those with other experiences and other views: ‘be patient with them all … always seek to do good to one another’ (vv.14–15). 

The resulting canvas is not a smoothly finished artwork. Indeed, the unfinished state of this painting gives it a particular character: it is as though we get a look behind the scenes of the painter’s hand at work, and also a glimpse of the painter’s heart.

In this respect, it can be read as a witness to a particular state of mind—an experienced necessity to ‘capture’ the funeral, to process the experience of the funeral in one way or other, and to show ‘esteem’ for others ‘because of their work’ (v.13), even when it diverges from one’s own.

It reinforces the complexities and richness of personal relations that do not necessarily come easily and that need effort to maintain them.

References

Coppens, Thera. 2014. Suzanne en Edouard Manet: De liefde van een Hollandse pianiste en een Parijse schilder (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff)