Focus on Self-Portrait with Palette (Manet) and explain the Position in the Oeuvre.
The Self-Portrait with Palette is the only self-portrait by Manet in which he depicted himself as an artist. He depicted himself in several other paintings, but almost always as one of many figures in a large composition. These works include Fishing (1860/61), Music in the Tuileries (1862), and The Ball of the Opera (1873).
The full-length Self-Portrait with Cap (1878–79) is the only other pure self-portrait by Manet. The chronological proximity of the two paintings implies a direct connection between them; accordingly, they have been considered as two stages of a work in progress. In the first painting, Self-Portrait with Palette, the act of painting itself is depicted by the blurred gestures of the painter. In the latter work, the painter is shown with the clear detachment of a viewer, rather than a creator. To Éric Darragon it appears that the painter has "stepped back, to evaluate his painting."After Manet's death the two pictures hung on either side of the 1877 painting Jean-Baptiste Faure in the Role of Hamlet. From this arrangement Stoichiţă concludes that the choice of this Spanish influenced painting was meant to evoke a renewed parallel to Velázquez. Another message derived from the juxtaposition is that the self-portraits could almost be read as Manet in the Role of Manet. Juliet Wilson-Bareau, however, points out that Manet probably did not intend the pictures to be so displayed, as it was Léon Leenhoff who had the pictures framed and hung them on either side of the Faure portrait.
Hamlet Music in the Tuileries Jean-Baptiste Faure Juliet Wilson-Bareau Velázquez