Manet, Édouard (1832-1883)
Chez le Père Lathuille (At Père Lathuille’s)
1879
Oil on canvas, 92 x 112 cm
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tournai, Tournai
“The modern life I spoke of, here it is” (Joris-Karl Huysmans)
With Édouard Manet, painting enters modernity. Beyond art produced exclusively in the studio, the artist aims to revive “great painting”. If he first developed a real revolution in the way of painting by renouncing the contours of shapes in favor of strong contrasts of colors, he also turned away from purely historical and religious subjects to better depict the psychology of his characters.
In the 1870s, the French painter caused a scandal by presenting scenes of modern life in the open air in official salons. This one, described by Emile Zola “with a cheerfulness and a delicacy of charming tones”, takes place in the gardens of the establishment of “Father Lathuille“, a cabaret in the Parisian district of Batignolles. An enterprising young man courts an obviously older lady. In the background, a waiter watches the game of seduction between the two lovers. His gaze is turned towards the spectator, voyeur of this immoral scene for the time. (MBAT)
See also:
• Andrée, Ellen (1857-1925) | Batignolles (Paris) | Gauthier-Lathuille, Louis | Père Lathuille (Paris)