Edouard Manet | Corner of a Café-Concert | NG3858

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Key facts

Full title	Corner of a Café-Concert
Artist	Edouard Manet
Artist dates	1832 - 1883
Date made	probably 1878-80
Medium and support	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	97.1 × 77.5 cm
Inscription summary	Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit	Bought, Courtauld Fund, 1924
Inventory number	NG3858
Location	On loan: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, Chimei Museum, Tainan City, Taiwan
Collection	Main Collection

Corner of a Café-Concert Edouard Manet / In August 1874 Manet began work on a large picture of the Brasserie de Reichshoffen, where he was fascinated by the skill of the waitresses. While working on the picture, he radically altered his plans and cut it in two, completing each half separately. This snapshot view of the cafe is the right side of the larger painting. The left half shows a man and two women sitting at the other side of the table. Titled Au Café, that painting is in the Reinhart Collection, Winterthur, Switzerland. Manet enlarged the National Gallery picture by adding an extra strip of canvas along its right side to bring the waitress into the centre of the composition. Although a painting in its own right, Corner of a Café-Concert is also a fragment. But this is appropriate for its subject, as Manet offers us just a fleeting glimpse into this world, not a panoramic view of it. In the middle of the nineteenth century the café-concert became extremely popular in France, and Parisian establishments such as the Ambassadeurs, the Alcazar d’été and the Nouvelle Athènes attracted customers from all classes. These venues were also fashionable meeting places for artists and writers, particularly those associated with the Impressionists. In 1870 Manet left his studio in rue Guyot in the west of Paris – where he had painted his Portrait of Eva Gonzalès – and set up his studio and home close to Place Clichy and Place Pigalle. From 1872 until his death in 1883, he produced many works that show the interiors, terraces and gardens of the popular local brasseries, restaurants, cafes and café-concerts. This snapshot view of cafe society is in fact one (modified) half of a larger painting. In August 1874 Manet began work on a large picture of the Brasserie de Reichshoffen. The art critic Théodore Duret relates how Manet was fascinated by the dexterity of the waitresses ‘who, while placing with one hand a glass on a table in front of a customer, were able to hold several more in the other, without spilling a drop.’ Manet asked the most skilled waitress to pose for him in his studio, which she agreed to do, but only on condition that she was accompanied by her ‘protector’, who would also require payment. He is the man in a blue smock leaning on the table as the waitress sets down a glass of beer before him. While working on the picture, Manet radically altered his plans and cut it in two, completing each half separately. The right half (this painting) shows the waitress, while the left half shows a man and two women sitting at the other side of the table. Titled Au Café, that painting is in the Reinhart Collection, Winterthur, Switzerland. Although Manet reworked each painting separately, it is still clear that they are two halves of the same picture. For example, the table on the left of this picture joins with the table on the right of Au Café, and the shadows of the glasses and carafes continue over the join. At the very left edge of the National Gallery picture, the fingertips of the young woman who sits on the opposite side of the table in the Reinhart painting are just visible. Manet enlarged the National Gallery picture by adding an extra strip of canvas along its right side – a join runs through the man’s blue smock, roughly in line with the satin curtain in the top right corner. By adding this extra canvas, Manet brought the waitress into the centre of the composition. He then reworked the background, adding the stage, the dancer and the orchestra, which are painted in a much looser manner than the foreground figures. Although a picture in its own right, Corner of a Café-Concert is also a fragment. But this is appropriate for its subject, as Manet offers us just a fleeting glimpse into this world, not a panoramic view of it. In this, it has similarities with At the Café de Châteaudun by Degas, which also focuses on just two people. Another smaller version of this picture is also in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, which may be a preparatory study for this one once Manet had divided the original, larger painting. Download image Download low-resolution image Download a low-resolution copy of this image for personal use. License this image License and download a high-resolution image for reproductions up to A3 size from the National Gallery Picture Library. License image Download low-resolution image This image is licensed for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons agreement. Examples of non-commercial use are: ●Research, private study, or for internal circulation within an educational organisation (such as a school, college or university) ●Non-profit publications, personal websites, blogs, and social media The image file is 800 pixels on the longest side. As a charity, we depend upon the generosity of individuals to ensure the collection continues to engage and inspire. Help keep us free by making a donation today. Yes, I'd like to donate Or Download low-resolution image You must agree to the Creative Commons terms and conditions to download this image.

Corner of a Café-Concert by Edouard Manet

Corner of a Café-Concert Edouard Manet

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