Historical context:
Eduard Manet was a French painter who represented everyday scenes of people and city life. He was a leading artist in the transition from realism to impressionism, and he lived from 1832 to 1883. Interestingly, Manet’s career choice was a little different than his parents had hoped. Manet came from royalty with his father, Auguste Manet, a high-ranking judge, and his mother, Eugénie-Desirée Fournier, the daughter of a diplomat and the goddaughter of the Swedish crown prince. They had expected for their son to “choose a respectable career”, preferably in law. However that was not in the cards for Manet. Ironically, his art career is still being appreciated over a century later. Manet's uncle, Edmond Fournier, supported Manet is his early art interests, arranging frequent trips to the Louvre. Eventually, Manet and his parents were on the same page and they supported his calling for art.

The artist’s use of color, space and composition: The lemon by Manet is a unique piece of art. Manet utilizes realism to capture the simplistic form of the fruit. However, this painting is nothing less than sophisticated demonstrating Manet’s true command of color and touch with his brush. The painting is encompassed by dull, dark colors with sporadic brightness. Manet uses different forms of yellow to capture the color, shape, and texture of the lemon. The sudden brightness in the painting can be seen as the natural reflection that the lemon and the plate give off. He also utilizes dark browns mixed with green to reflect the depth and texture of the plate. His brush strokes are different throughout the painting. At times the brush strokes are hard and streaky, and at other times very clean. The painting is open composition, with the plate that the lemon is resting on going off the canvas. The lemon is horizontally depicted, with a strong shallow sense of