As a tribute to Manet’s work (Le déjeuner sur l'herbe, 1863) that had shocked everyone at the Salon des Refuses two years previously, Monet produced a vast painting of the same name in the autumn of 1865 in his Paris studio after making several sketches in the open air the previous summer. He uses a completely unconventional technique of drawing the full-length figures directly on to the canvas and applying thick paint with broad, spontaneous brushstrokes.

 1865-1866