It was a popular theme, for a while: people having a picnic lunch en plain air, in some park or other. Here’s (I think) the best-known example of “Dejeuner sur l’herbe”, painted by Edouard Manet:
(all pics can be right-clicked/embiggened)
His similarly named contemporary Claude Monet also did one (albeit less shockingly):
…and Paul Cézanne did two:
(I’m pretty sure the second was painted during his Drunken Phase, but whatever.)
Here’s Marcel Dyf’s pair:
…although it must be said that Dyf had a thing about barely-pubescent girls, the dirty old sod.
Of course, Picasso had to add his two pesetas:
…while Egon Schiele went off-script completely:
Some American guy followed the trend:
…but he cocked it up completely, i.e. no nudity — I’m frankly surprised that he had wine in the pic.
The theme has continued into the modern era, mostly through photography (here’s Robert Doisneau):
…and in glorious (?) color:
…and even as a party theme:
There’s been some modern art on the topic, of course. Here’s Chinese artist Yue Minjun:
…which made me howl with laughter. Absolutely brilliant satire.
There was even a French movie entitled “Dejeuner sur l’herbe”. Here’s a still:
And yes, that was yesterday’s Caption Competition pic.
