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

About the work

Overview

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.

Key facts

Details

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
Room 41
Collection
Main Collection
Frame
18th-century French Frame

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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