Every Painter Paints Himself | Manet’s Le Déjeuner and Mlle. V. Simply Explained

Edouard Manet, Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe (Le Bain)
(Musee d'Orsay)

I found the the following link from one of my favorite blogs www.everypainterpaintshimself.  This is a fascinating look into the discrepancies surrounding some of Manet's work. While talking about Manet's Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe, and Mlle. V. in the Costume of an Espada the placement of the figures in the foreground of the picture plane and the emphasis on the flatness of the background as well as some areas of the painting being sketchy while other areas are smoothly finished are often mentioned but before I read this essay I just couldn't grasp how or why he chose to portray it this way. Everything becomes a lot clearer after reading Simon Abrahams' theory.

Every Painter Paints Himself | Manet’s Le Déjeuner and Mlle. V. Simply Explained

Edouard Manet, Mademoiselle V.... in the Costume of an Espada, 1862
(Metropolitan Museum of Art)

 I have a little footnote I wanted to add to all this information.  According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website Manet exhibited these two paintings along with Young Man in the Costume of a Majo as a triptych at the Salon des Refuses in 1863.