Skip to main content

Edouard Manet, 'Corner of a Café-Concert', probably 1878-80

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: In Your Wildest Dreams. Ensor Beyond Impressionism, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen (KMSKA), Antwerp, Belgium
Collection Main Collection
Corner of a Café-Concert
Edouard Manet
/

In August 1877 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.

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.

Download low-resolution image

You must agree to the Creative Commons terms and conditions to download this image.

Creative Commons Logo