A Bar at the Folies-Bergere Edouard Manet 1881-82 oil on canvasd 96x130cm Courtland Institute Galleries
Manet always wanted to produce modern paintings that would be accepted in the greatest museums of France. Maybe this is why he has always been a bit ignored. Yet he deserves as much credit for the birth of contemporary art as Cezanne. This work is his preeminent masterpiece and one the the most compelling paintings ever created. The painting is made up of fragments of stories and illusions. The most intense feature of this practice of illusionism is the dynamic contrast between the courtesans and whores residing in the background and the still, calm, melancholy young woman.
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Manet always wanted to produce modern paintings that would be accepted in the greatest museums of France. Maybe this is why he has always been a bit ignored. Yet he deserves as much credit for the birth of contemporary art as Cezanne. This work is his preeminent masterpiece and one the the most compelling paintings ever created. The painting is made up of fragments of stories and illusions. The most intense feature of this practice of illusionism is the dynamic contrast between the courtesans and whores residing in the background and the still, calm, melancholy young woman. 
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