Manet's A Bar at Folies Bergere

In light of the excellent Manet show opening at the Royal Academy, we've put together an extract from Manet: The Man Who Invented Modern Art. Waldemar muses on his last and most enigmatic painting, A Bar at the Folies Bergere.

[@The_Butler_Did_It]

If you listen to ten different art critics talk about this painting, you will get twenty different interpretations of what it is about.

[@lunadog71]

Which, in my opinion, is the beauty of art.

[@thinktoomuchb4028]

The KZbin Channel "Art Deco" recounts a recreation from 2000 that showed the man is standing on the other side and looking away from her. It's a trick of the refection that makes it look as if they are interacting when they really aren't.

[@seangelarden8753]

The brush work in the bottles on the bar is amazing the way he was able to communicate translucence

[@881231deogordo]

i love you Waldemar!!!!! Please keep doing what you do!!!

[@johnappleby405]

Her expression must be familiar to anyone who has spent much time on the London underground. Vacant, distant, uninviting.

[@davidmcbride3843]

Very well presented documentary. There are many messages in the painting. The guy talking to the barmaid looks like Jack the ripper.

[@Poemsapennyeach]

I too think she looks very sad...but fed-up also. Thanks for the pre-view...hope to get to see the show next month.

[@hermanjacobs4425]

To me the painting is mostly about how a tired barmaid looks like in a 19th century Paris lounge bar during her long work shift. Her expression is like ” I’m so exhausted right now but I still have to serve many more gentleman drinks before my shift ends. I want to quit this dead end job.”

[@pinkpanther7030]

It's a painting so wonderful that we forget the picture is made up and not reflecting what really is going on in there. The young Susanne's face has gentle features. She seems so taken by her own thoughts🤔Is she serving or listening to someone? I think not.

[@anthtan]

For all the freedoms of modern life, if you go by what artists say, there's a lot of emptiness and loneliness.

[@simongardiner949]

You fail to mention a very significant literary reference that wonderfully explains the "expression" on the barmaid's - SUZON - face. In "Mdme Bovary" Flaubert describes the face of the girl Emma as she 'invites' the young Dr. Charles to fall in love with her..(almost certain that educated Manet had this great book on his shelves). In fact this model had to sit for many days in Manet's studio for him to get the exact expression he needed - a very deliberate piece of painting, far too much effort to produce a "bored" expression! Now look at the reflected image of the gent. If the viewer steps 2 paces to his right, the reflected gent appears at the angle shown in the painting (as it does with the bottles on the right of the bar). Manet is in fact inviting the viewer to CHANGE HIS POSITION in order to be able to see the composition. This change of position required, is an EMOTIONAL change. This is the message of what we call 'Post Impressionism' - an invitation by the artist to the viewer to change his preconceived view AND FALL IN LOVE! (look carefully at the 2 reflected images in the painting) Far too many contemporary commentators miss the whole point of this picture and, instead, project their own preconceived nonsense onto the picture - PRECISELY WHAT MANET IS TELLING YOU NOT TO DO!

[@josephnazoa8724]

Great material as always... what happened with your old haircut?

[@user-vu8xr9sw5b]

What type of Champagne is on the table?

[@marinarodriguesuys8705]

Enjoy all this explication

[@MrUTuber001]

Beautiful woman (the model).

[@jameslewis5256]

what is the ladies name in this painting?

[@MrsStevenBrown]

I don’t think it’s a reflection at all…it’s another women serving a man to the side of the bar behind her...the bottom of the U for the whole bar ..the central bar was a U shape in the galley area..like a lot of bars are now in pubs etc…I say this cause the arms aren’t right in the “reflection” and the details of the man are good.

[@YadiraEscobar]

She has the 19th-century expression for our 21th-century "BURNOUT" illness. Disillusioned, numb, yet still showing up for work

[@hojoinhisarcher]

I was told it was all about the oranges.

[@CastelDawn]

décolleté lol, not décolletage

[@9unslin9er]

I came here after researching Seedfeeder. Disappointed.

[@dethklok107]

She needs a drink!

[@gdubbs680]

The reflection is impressionist style but she is not.

[@diddymuck]

could be her expression indicates boredom. ever work behind a counter before? or maybe she's been posing for hours for the artist and is an anguish to do something else...the slight tilt of her head indicates a desire to be elsewhere.

[@michaelsherck5099]

Pensive. I think she looks pensive.

[@evgeny9965]

This is totally wrong!!!! Trite predictable observations.