From Paris to Washington, via London, these paintings by Manet are enough to grasp the quiet upheaval he triggered in 19th-century art. In six stops, this journey through museums around the world shows how his luncheons, bars and railway scenes gradually helped invent modernity.
A key figure on the 19th-century Paris art scene, Édouard Manet (1832-1883) chipped away, painting after painting, at the polished veneer of bourgeois art. Today, his major works are split between the Musée d’Orsay, London and Washington, ready to cross your path on a weekend away or a longer trip.
- Luncheon on the Grass – Paris, Musée d’Orsay
- The Balcony – Paris, Musée d’Orsay
- The Fifer – Paris, Musée d’Orsay
- A Bar at the Folies-Bergère – London, The Courtauld Gallery
- The Execution of Maximilian – London, National Gallery
- The Railway – Washington, National Gallery of Art
- Luncheon on the Grass – Paris, Musée d’Orsay
Luncheon on the Grass – Paris, Musée d’Orsay
Painted in 1863 and immediately rejected by the Salon, Luncheon on the Grass marks the beginning of Manet’s scandalous legend. Two men in city clothes are deep in conversation beside a naked woman staring straight at us. The harsh light and the striking nudity of the body create a scene that is at once ordinary and unsettling, where it becomes unclear who is really looking at whom.
The Balcony – Paris, Musée d’Orsay
With The Balcony (1868-1869), Manet places those closest to him on the threshold between indoors and outdoors. Three figures stand by the window, as though a conversation had just been interrupted. Berthe Morisot, dressed in white, catches the light, while the dark background remains deliberately undefined. The intense greens of the railing and shutters structure the scene, suspended somewhere between summer freshness and a muted, lingering tension.
The Fifer – Paris, Musée d’Orsay
In the middle of a room, a child in uniform plays the fife against a neutral background. No décor, no unnecessary detail: just the figure, the red-and-black costume, and shoes that seem too large. The frontality of the subject, almost graphic in its simplicity, still feels surprising today. It evokes both Velázquez’s Spain and the world of posters and modern imagery, so distinctly does the figure emerge as a motif in its own right.
The Execution of Maximilian – London, National Gallery
Painted between 1867 and 1869, The Execution of Maximilian takes Manet onto political ground. The painting recounts, without flourish, the fate of the emperor backed by Napoleon III and executed in Mexico. After Manet’s death, the work was cut up and sold in pieces, before being patiently reassembled by Degas and eventually arriving at the National Gallery in the early 20th century. In this fragmentary version, Maximilian is absent: all that remains are the soldiers lined up, rifles raised, in a modern, methodical execution that feels almost administrative.
The Railway – Washington, National Gallery of Art
With The Railway (1873), the modern world of the train makes a discreet entrance into Manet’s painting. On a pavement near Gare Saint-Lazare, a seated young woman holds a book, while a little girl, seen from behind, turns towards the steam rising above the unseen tracks. Of the station itself, we see only white plumes and the metal fence cutting across the composition. Modernity is no longer a spectacular subject here, but a backdrop against which ordinary life quietly unfolds.
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère – London, The Courtauld Gallery
Manet’s last great completed painting, finished in 1882, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère distils the atmosphere of Parisian café-concerts. The barmaid stands behind her counter, surrounded by bottles and citrus fruit, looking both present and elsewhere. The large mirror reflects the performance hall, the chandeliers, the crowd… and a customer standing opposite her. The slight misalignment between that reflection and the young woman’s actual position disturbs the eye and lets a certain weariness surface, registered by the painting without comment.
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