Édouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, 1863, has always been seen as enigmatic. This essay argues that the painting's often noted studio atmosphere is one of several keys to seeing it in a new light as a highly idiosyncratic allegory of painting. Other keys to this reading include the indoor hats of the two men, the relaxed attitude of the nude, and the presence of a kind of painting within the painting. Related to this, the reclining pointer in the painting is seen as a stand-in for Manet himself in a way that is similar to other key works by Manet. Finally, the painting is also discussed in relation to paintings by Courbet, Cézanne and Seurat.