The Café-Concert | The Walters Art Museum (original) (raw)

Manet was the quintessential "Painter of Modern Life," a phrase coined by art critic and poet Charles Baudelaire. In 1878-79, he painted a number of scenes set in the Cabaret de Reichshoffen on the Boulevard Rochechouart, where women on the fringes of society freely intermingled with well-heeled gentlemen. Here, Manet captures the kaleidoscopic pleasures of Parisian nightlife. The figures are crowded into the compact space of the canvas, each one seemingly oblivious of the others. When exhibited at La Vie Moderne gallery in 1880, this work was praised by some for its unflinching realism and criticized by others for its apparent crudeness.

Inscription

[Signature] Lower left: Manet

Provenance

Boussaton, 1881; Boussaton Sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, May 15, 1891, no. 61; A. M. Haviland, Limoges [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; J. B. Faure, Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Collection J. B. Faure Sale, Paris, 1902, no. 38; Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1907 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1909, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Exhibitions

2023-2024 Manet/Degas. Musee D'Orsay, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
2014-2016 From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.
2010-2011 19th Century Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara; Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin.
2002-2004 A Magnificent Age: Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte.
2000-2002 Triumph of French Painting: Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; Dayton Art Institute, Dayton; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo.
1998-2001 Highlights from the Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.
1999-2000 Vive la France! French Treasures from the Middle Ages to Monet. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.
1998 Before Monet: Landscape Painting in France and Impressionist Masters: Highlights from The Walters Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.
1996 Impressionism, the City and Modern Life. Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund.
1986 Manet's Working Methods. The Courtauld Gallery, London.
1984 The Taste of Maryland: Art Collecting in Maryland 1800-1934. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.
1982-1983 Manet and Modern Paris. National Gallery of Art, Washington.
1983 Manet, 1832-1883. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
1968 From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works by European and American Artists. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore.
1951 From Ingres to Gauguin: French Nineteenth Century Paintings Owned in Maryland. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore.

Conservation

Date Description Narrative
1/1/1936 Treatment mounted
1/22/1941 Treatment cleaned; coated
10/25/1951 Treatment cleaned; coated
10/12/1965 Examination examined for loan
6/1/1971 Treatment cleaned
3/5/1979 Treatment other
8/30/1982 Examination examined for loan
8/31/1982 Treatment cleaned; coated; loss compensation
3/19/1983 Examination survey

Geographies

France(Place of Origin)

Measurements

H: 18 5/8 x W: 15 3/8 in. (47.3 x 39.1 cm); Framed H: 25 7/8 x W: 22 7/8 x D: 3 3/4 in. (65.72 x 58.1 x 9.53 cm)

Credit Line

Acquired by Henry Walters, 1909-10

Location in Museum

Not on view