A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1882
Édouard Manet
Oil on canvas · 96 x 130 cm
A barmaid stares out past the viewer, her mirror reflection subtly askew.
A barmaid faces us head-on amid bottles and electric light, her reflection in the great mirror behind subtly, impossibly wrong. Manet's last masterpiece turns a Parisian nightspot into a puzzle about looking, longing and modern loneliness.
What you're looking at
The reflection is wrong and it is wrong on purpose. The barmaid's mirrored back is shifted far to the right of where it should be, and the man she appears to be serving cannot be standing where the reflection puts him — you would be in his place. Manet was precise about everything else: the bottles are identifiable, the Bass pale ale triangle included, and in the top left corner are the green boots of a trapeze artist mid-act.
On a Frame TV
About 1.34:1. The clean crop takes the trapeze feet at the top and the marble bar at the bottom, both of which matter, so use the matted file. Electric-lit and high in contrast; it holds a normally lit room.
Courtauld Gallery · Visit it in London →
- 4K master file (3840px+)
- Samsung Frame TV–ready crop
- Phone wallpaper crop
- Printable art card
Public domain · one .zip, no sign-up
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Other works in the collection, starting with Édouard Manet.
