Final answer:
Mickalene Thomas' 'Le Dejeuner sur L'Herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires' pays homage to Manet's original painting, positioning black women at the center of the narrative to challenge traditional art history and start contemporary dialogue regarding beauty, gender, and race.
Step-by-step explanation:
The significance of Mickalene Thomas' artwork Le Dejeuner sur L'Herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires lies in its reference and homage to the seminal work of Édouard Manet. Thomas' reinterpretation explores notions of beauty, gender, and race, challenging the traditional art historical narrative by placing black women in the context of a classic European painting. Thomas staged the photograph that her painting is based on, which is a modern reinterpretation of Manet's painting, altering the composition to center black female subjects in a space from which they were historically excluded. By doing this, she engages in a dialogue with the media alteration techniques of artists like Picasso and Bearden, perspectivizing the historical conversation on art through a contemporary lens.