The Many Meanings of Manet's Bar at the Folies-Bergère

In this video I discuss the many ways we can interpret and understand Manet's Bar at the Folies-Bergère and ultimately come to a theory of what constitutes a Masterpiece.
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Works Cited:
Collins, Bradford R. 12 Views of Manet's Bar. Princeton Univ. Press, 1996.
www.bbc.com/culture/article/2...
#manet
#arttheory
#artmasterpiece
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[@TheCanvasArtHistory]

Amazing video! I made a video analyzing this painting through the lens of Marx's concept of alienation. I love how you show a wide range of possible interpretations, many of which I would have never thought of! I especially like the copyrighted label and its reproduction on the barmaid's dress. If I had known that, I would have probably made a link to how labour power itself (and some would say the worker) becomes a commodity. Again, great video and keep up the amazing work! You provide incredible insight!

[@AmorSciendi]

Cool. I'll check out your video

[@andrewbrown1464]

Mysterious Manet. His last great non-narrative driven people painting. Your range of possible interpretations perfectly showing his lightning in a bottle compositional aesthetic. On the one hand it’s all just brilliant, pushed forward mark making, on the other hand, a puzzle to decode, filtered through his cultured, conflicted sensibilities. A great painter wrestling his demons in plain sight.

[@slowfootlabeef704]

I remember when I got to see that painting, in the flesh as it were, I don't know if I went through all of those ideas & analysis, I don't think people do until later on, or that's just me. However, being one of my very favorite paintings, I couldn't look away from it and spent a long time trying to take in every detail. Very interesting commentary, you've given me a lot to think about!

[@helenozbay7447]

My mind is duly stretched! So many ways to look at a familiar painting. Thank you.

[@cskarbek1]

"tension between tradition and modernity!" love that phrase! thanks soooo much for posting this. gives context and form to what the ordinary viewer feels but cannot express! love your insights which mirror (pun intended) our emotions! but also having viewed other videos on this painting, i will also have to agree that this reflects (again a pun) Manet's innermost feelings as he approached his death, knowing full well his time at the Folies-Bergere was just about to end.

[@AmorSciendi]

Thanks for taking the time to leave this comment. It's nice to hear :)

[@hratchisraelian3947]

Thank you, Your voice is not monotone at all, I find your videos very educational and inspiring.

[@grghndy]

Thank you, once again. Very interesting and definitely appreciated.

[@ttuanmu]

"Man, I wish I can be partying like them. Instead, I'm working double shifts!"

[@AndyMcCavish]

I wish you had made this video 35 years ago when I had to write an essay on this picture!

[@hunterbeecher2073]

dude...its been 35 years...can I just have your essay so I can turn it in so I don't have to do it haha

[@journeyf1064]

@@hunterbeecher2073 for real!

[@michaelsommers2356]

I think the man in the reflection is clearly the viewer, which is why he is not in the foreground. Regarding the reflection being wrong, I think Manet wanted to show the man and the back of the barmaid, and to do that he had to the reflection wrong, and simply did not care that it was wrong. As for the bottles being misplaced in the reflection, maybe he thought it looked better that way, or maybe he just got it wrong.

[@robertlowebarnett1933]

When you were talking about the three times of her life/imagination being depicted, but before you mentioned the cubist parallel, I thought of the medieval triptych showing sequential parts of a story.

[@Novalarke]

Another idea: it comments on photography. He shows what painting can do that photography can't, and, by including the feet of the trapeze artist, also shows the flaws in photography - the machine collects everything, intentional or not. The painting is all intention, so to leave the feet in is a snub to the idea of photography.

[@vincentpaulfulmaran8736]

I like the perspective that your shared on the video

[@MammaMia]

wow i love this. these layered interpretations are amazing

[@nedaz2758]

Thank you , it was amazing

[@myezecky7422]

From my early career as a cocktail server, I know the feeling of that stare in my bones. 😅

[@richardcottone6620]

yes there is a story there, the illustration, but a painting is a concert of line , light, color, and space. Having seen Manet paintings in person, I've never seen a photograph that comes close.

[@a.oliver4426]

I attended the Manet/Degas Exhibit at the MET 3 weeks ago, sadly this painting was not there. Instead there was a copy exhibited.

[@Chris-it6sy]

Fascinating video, as always. Thank you!

[@AmorSciendi]

Glad you enjoyed it! thanks for sticking with it. I know it was on the long side.

[@ovh992]

What is most shocking about this painting is not the man in the mirror but her hairstyle actually. One can see that Manet actually spent A LOT of time on her hair. Her hair is finely detailed. If you look in the mirror everyone is wearing elaborate hats and the women have updos and pincurls. The barmaid has the most plain hair possible: combed straight and put up in a ponytail. Her outfit is most probably a uniform that all her other coworkers would wear as well. I think this painting is really just exemplifying the old salesgirl dream of wishing you were in front of the counter and not behind it.

[@daveh9521]

When I was a kid in French class back in the early '70s, this painting hung high over the blackboard. For me, it was a constant source of daydreaming. The girl was utterly captivating, and I felt she was looking only at me. I was very interested in art then, and have since spent my life as a busy illustrator and today, a gallery artist. I came across this video while researching this painting for a gallery project. The gallery has been wanting me to paint this one for some time now, and in keeping with a theme, our dear Suzanne will be depicted as a rabbit.....

[@AmorSciendi]

I'd love to see it

[@daveh9521]

@@AmorSciendi Hi Amor, I certainly will send you an image if I can post it. I wrote back earlier, but don't see it here. I'm ready to begin the painting, so I'll contact you again in a few weeks.

[@AmorSciendi]

@@daveh9521 [e-mail]

[@danielhughes441]

FYI: the “s” in “Folies” is silent

[@kirbygo3569]

Thank you for your analysis. My mind is blown ! 👍😘

[@BariumCobaltNitrog3n]

That mirror is the original beer goggles. If you turned around, it would be a dingy dive bar.

[@ajaymanoj3527]

Great you have covered almost all perspectives. 😍

[@DmytriHryciw]

Great! I'd love to see a follow-up about Jeff Wall's "Picture for Women"

[@GFmanaic]

Your videos are very well written.

[@AmorSciendi]

Thank you. I really appreciate that

[@HopskotchBunny]

What a phenomenal video. I learned so many interesting things to think about for quite some time regarding this painting that has always fascinated and yet unsettled me. To me, the barmaid looks so trapped and the lighting literally feels “sickening” the way it seems to look coming from those globes on the pinkish columns. The barmaid’s face and ears look too pink as well while the rest of her skin looks normal. So is it a way to contrast the modern electric lights, if that’s what they were using in the bar?

[@346UNCLEBOB]

I once tried to figure all this out but I decided I didn't need to. :-)

[@AmorSciendi]

Exactly. You don't have to

[@mylesjordan9970]

Of course, Velazquez’s “Venus of Rokeby” looks at us, too, from an impossible angle in a mirror-and Velazquez’ influence, through teachers like Carolus Duran, was enormous in Paris just at this point. There seem to be so many simultaneous Renaissance references. Your wonderfully multi-layered view of this Manet begs the question whether both Titian’s and Giorgione’s versions of “Sacred and Profane Love” are echoed as genre works here, or even whether the Mona Lisa’s “ultimate enigmatic female stare” is referenced such that, in Manet’s view, perhaps the Leonardo takes its place as another manifestation of the same “holy whore” genre?

[@aparajitob]

The woman sitting next to the tophat man. She's brighter than all the other people in the audience. Is it intentional? Any theories?

[@simongardiner949]

Try reading Flaubert's description of Emma as she stands outside the farmhouse and 'appears' to be inviting Charles to "fall in love" with her. Emma wears an expression EXACTLY like Suzon (not Suzanne) in the painting. The reflected figures are NOT obtained by looking directly at Suzon. BUT if you step 2 paces to your right, you will ALL the items on the bar and Suzon herself EXACTLY as in the painting! Manet has painted the interior of the venue - magnified by the mirror - strictly according to the rules of painting, namely, linear and areal perspective. (the objects on the bar, the crowd in the middle distance and the lighting are all SIMPLY DEVICES that enable the painter to employ perspective in order to create a 3 dimensional 'space' into which the viewer can step). The expression on Suzon's face does not project any emotion, PRECISELY BECAUSE SHE IS INVITING THE VIEWER to step into her EMOTIONAL space. The purpose of this painting is to engage the viewer EMOTIONALLY. If the viewer steps 2 paces to his right, he will enter into a conversation with an engaged Suzon. Try this at home by setting up a plane mirror and arranging objects to represent the bar front and the barmaid. Step to you right, and you will see the picture! You dont need all that - dated - psychobabble to SEE this picture!!!

[@AmorSciendi]

... but you don't have to

[@simongardiner949]

@@AmorSciendi In your 'wisdom' are you saying that an artist should NOT be interested in another major work? Most artists WERE INSPIRED by major works, especially in literature/philosophy. The artistic process, just in case you didnt know, is the delivery of IDEAS!

[@billnickels6667]

Didnt He rework some paintings leaving parts of the former in the finished iteration? Considering the two figures on the right

[@nancikuba42]

Maybe Manet made this composition in a way for people to over analyze this painting which may just be a simple painting. Putting the figure of a woman from the back & the mirror in the background, the bottle in the foreground to the ones in the background. It could just be a square bar with two bartenders.

[@danielhughes441]

The top hat guy has a full goatee, but the fellow closer has different facial hair.

[@SKIPPERBIRDWOOD]

Do we know for sure that it is meant to be a mirror?

[@ThisPineappleLife]

Ya’ll never had that stare while working all day? 😂

[@MegadoseTheOutsiderArtist]

I thought they were tomatoes not oranges, they don't look like oranges. But then, why did i think they were tomatoes? Well, because i don't know what happens in bars. I've literally NEVER been in a bar, i don't drink... So i would not even know what they do with oranges either. Lemons or limes would make more sense.

[@casek1238]

If we accept there is a mirror, must we say then there are a second marble table and probably a second barmaid? Or does Manet play games with us? O no, the second table is not reflected! Is there a mirror? The second girl has no legs. So there must be a mirror and maybe a second girl. Despite of all the analysis it stays an amazing and impressive paiting.

[@ajaymanoj3527]

I think the reflection is the real world and the barmaid standing is sad. I can't figure out why she sad or empty or numb about the reality.

[@jaimekriel8027]

But we don't have to.......

[@AmorSciendi]

But it's more fun if we do

[@bigredracingdog466]

19th century European society was highly stratified by class. It's unlikely Suzon, a barmaid, would be a member of the upper middle class like the patrons of the bar. Nor would it be likely that she could hope to have a meaningful relationship with the handsome customer reflected in the mirror. Perhaps there is a pun on the word "reflection" (réflexion), as in both English and French it has the meanings of the image in a mirror and serious thought or consideration. The reflections in the mirror are impossible as are her dreams.

[@kasandianchid9225]

Awesome 😍💋 💝💖♥️❤️

[@AmorSciendi]

Thanks 🤗

[@ChubbyChecker182]

Manet just can't do mirrors 😊

[@youmaus]

I think you missed the obvious, the man in the mirror is point of view of the viewer. The man in the mirror is YOU.

[@palladin331]

I don't think Manet's goal was to make a statement on capitalism or the tension between business owners and workers. The tension is clearly between the voluptuous bar tender and the dark gentleman whose face is inches away from her distracted gaze. He is not ordering a drink. She is not making one. They clearly know each other. The background reveals a stage show, not visible, in progress; perhaps a can-can routine. Viewers in the balcony are using opera glasses. People are drinking and being entertained. Not so the woman and the man staring into her eyes. He has not taken off his top hat; he is there explicitly to see her. Or is she simply wishing he would appear? - hence the off-to-the-side surreal reflection. Her curvacious body is the center of attention. Her cleavage, revealed by her low neckline, is carefully shielded by a corsage. So, yes, it's always interesting to do a Marxian analysis of a given social environment. But Marx can go only so far before his limitations come to light. This painting is a statement far more fundamental and far more easily understood than economic theory. It's the age-old tension of sexual attraction, albeit given a thoroughly bourgeois setting which cannot mask or suppress it. (A feminist interpretation is also worth considering. But that, too, is an analysis not explicitly suggested by the artist). The distortions of time and space evident in the reflections of the bottles and the two figures are overwhelmed by the dizzying background: the rear wall of the balcony consists of two huge mirrors (or paintings) that depict the scene outside on the streets. The balcony audience flows into or out of the theater through those 'windows', giving two perspective lines reaching to infinity and focused squarely on that corsage resting silently on the woman's pounding heart.. The woman's distracted face is not alienated from society. It is alienated, temporarily, one hopes, from her man, who is out there somewhere.

[@torohadlefern8141]

Really nice 👌 😍💋 💝💖❤️

[@AmorSciendi]

Thanks 🤗