...ack! no more romantically tormented subjects, cherubic babies, or even a classically proportioned human form! what you see here, ladies and gentlemen, is a reaction towards years and years of being told that the only "right" way to paint is to portray noble subjects who have noble purposes in life. the resulting movement of thought, realism, sought to show people of all classes exactly as they appeared; in short, the artist gained more freedom in his choice of subject. manet, who was strongly influenced by the writers and artists of the realism movement, often selected as his subjects people from middle to low classes. our particular image is that of a ragpicker, a guy so poor he picks rags for a living. in keeping with the principles of realism, manet left out no details of the man's station in life and even went so far as to paint trash at the man's feet, leaving the viewer in no doubt of who the subject is. as if the man's ratty clothes and dirty, unwashed hands are not proof enough.

...it's important to keep in mind that manet did not present the ragpicker in a demeaning manner. by eliminating any distracting background elements and placing the subject in a very shallow space, the viewer's attention is focused soley on the figure of the man. his painting does not induce the viewer to look down upon a man who's station in life is often much lower than most. in fact, at nearly seven feet tall, the viewer was typically forced to look up a bit to meet the subject's gaze. in this set-up, we are forced to greet this ragpicker as a fellow human being of equal status to our own in society (unless, well, you happen to be even less than a ragpicker).

...manet's choice of subject not only reflects the ideas of realism (that the hard-working poor are the more noble people because they suffer their lot in life) but also the growing control artists were beginning to gain over their own work. though artists such as da vinci and bernini were brilliant in their vision and style, in the end they often created works only through the commission system. with the advent of romanticism, followed by realism, the focus on an individual's intellectual and emotional worth translated across to creating art for art's sake. manet was one of the first artists to truly paint what he wanted in disregard to the accepted rules of art during his time.