The clash between the ideals of the Salon painters and Manet’s Batignolles Impressionist group.

This lecture investigates the social, cultural and artistic background to the formation of the Impressionist group and their new vision of art and society with emphasis on the role played by Edouard Manet and the art critic and novelist Emile Zola.

Through Manet’s canvasses we will wander first through the Saint Germain area and then Batignolles at the foot of Montmartre.

This lecture was recorded on 24 February 2009.