A Bar at the Folies Bergere by Edouard Manet

Edouard Manet's 1882 painting A Bar at the Folies Bergere, of a barmaid in a cabaret, intrigues the viewer with its spatial and psychological complexity. The mirror behind her transforms the shallow space in which she stands into a view of the entire room, where a lively and sophisticated crowd is enjoying the aerial act high above their heads. The barmaid appears lost in thought, but in the reflection, she is seen attending to a customer. To the end of his career Edouard Manet sought to portray the spirit of modern life.

edouard manet, a bar at the folies bergere
Edouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies Bergere
(oil on canvas, 37-3/4x51-1/4 inches)
is shown at the Courtald Institute Gallery in London.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Debra N. Mancoff, Ph.D., is an art historian and lecturer and the author of numerous books on nineteenth-century European and American paintings. She is a scholar in residence at the Newberry Library and an adjunct associate professor and adjunct lecturer at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.