Plum Brandy
Plum Brandy | |
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Artist | Édouard Manet |
Year | circa 1877[1] |
Medium | Oil on canvas[1] |
Dimensions | 73.6 x 50.2 cm (29 x 19 3/4 in.)[1] |
Location | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.[1] |
Plum Brandy, also known as The Plum (French: La Prune), is an oil painting by Édouard Manet. It is undated but thought to have been painted about 1877. The painting measures 73.6 centimetres (29.0 in) by 50.2 centimetres (19.8 in). It depicts a woman seated alone at a table in a cafe, in a lethargic pose similar to that of the woman in Degas' L'Absinthe.[2] The woman may be a prostitute, but unlike the subject of Degas' work she appears more dreamy than depressed. She holds an unlit cigarette and her plum soaked in brandy appears untouched.[3]
Plum Brandy is exhibited in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Analysis
The painting is a study in loneliness, depicting a quiet, almost melancholy, scene of a young working girl seated in a café. The subject is viewed from nearby, perhaps by another seated customer. She may be a prostitute waiting for a client, or possibly a shop worker hoping for some conversation. On the table is a plum soaked in brandy, a speciality of Parisian cafés at the time (originally painted as a glass of beer),[citation needed] which gives the painting its title. She leans forward, with her cheek resting on her right hand, and her right elbow on the marble tabletop, looking into the distance with a blank pensive look. Her left hand rests on the table holding an unlit cigarette. She wears a pink dress with embroidered cuffs, a white jabot, and a black hat trimmed with silk and lace. Her head is framed by the decorative grille behind her, above the red upholstered banquette on which she sits.
Manet may have based the painting on observations at the
The model is the actress
History
Manet sold the painting to collector Charles Deudon in about 1881. It was inherited by Deudon's wife on his death in 1914 and sold before 1919. It came into the collection of Arthur Sachs (1880–1975), the son of
Gallery
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Degas, In a Café or L'Absinthe, 1876?
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Auguste Renoir. Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1881
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d "Plum Brandy". National Gallery of Art.
- ISBN 0300096585.
- ISBN 9783822819494.
- ^ "Plum Brandy: Provenance". National Gallery of Art.
References
- Plum Brandy, narratives, National Gallery of Art
- Manet, Monet, and the Gare Saint-Lazare, Juliet Wilson-Bareau, p. 181.
- Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society, Professor Robert L. Herbert, et al.
- Reconfiguring Modernism: Explorations in the Relationship between Modern Art and Modern Literature, Daniel R. Schwarz, p. 61.
- Manet Manette, Carol Armstrong pp. 244-245.