The Grand Canal of Venice is an oil painting produced in 1875 by French painter Edouard Manet.
The Grand Canal of Venice is also known by another name as Blue Venice.
James Tissot who was outside to the impressionist circle was Edouard Manet’s friend and a painter too. They both visited the Grand Canal of Venice in September 1875. Monet’s friend James Tissot after the Franco Prussian war between 1870 and 1871 moved to London and settled there. In starting, Manet found difficult to settle in the watery splendor of Venice but then he managed to paint The Grand Canal of Venice which was regarded as the most dashingly Impressionist artworks of his life. The watery splendor of Venice had earlier inspired many great artists that Manet finds difficult to settle in. Manet had to create the visual watery splendor of Venetian canals in his painting so he thought to use bright colors and broken brushstrokes.
Manet completed the Grand Canal of Venice during a trip to Venice in 1875. In this painting, there was a floating boat with a figure standing on the floating boat holding a paddle in both of his hands. The blue color strokes used depicts that the water is flowing. Behind the figure, one can see large buildings in the foreground of the painting. The dimensions of The Grand Canal of Venice picture were 65 cm x 54 cm.
The Luncheon on the Grass and Olympia were earlier masterworks of Edouard Manet but these both caused great controversy in 1863. This led down Manet moral and served as rally points for young impressionism painters. Impressionist paintings were taken seriously at that period and reviewed by many. These works of Manet today are considered as the genesis of modern art.
The work can be viewed at Shelburne Museum, Vermont, USA