Suzanne in Salon Society

The nude in the painting is Suzanne Manet's body with Victorine Meurent's face superimposed. The fully dressed men are Gustave Manet and the Manet brothers' good friend and future brother-in-law, Ferdinand Leenhof. The root of the public outrage against 'The Luncheon on the Grass' stemmed from the recognizability of the subjects, and gossip describing the scene as prostitution targeted the subjects.

Today, Manet's work is considered a watershed. One of Manet's lesser paintings recently sold at auction for $33.2 Million.