Controversial Artists Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet, a French artist, known for being one of the most controversial artists of his time. His works help jumpstart the new art era of the Impressionists. His works are known for having both impressionism and realism aspects. Thus, not allowing for Manet to be boxed into one category of art. His final piece, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, is the topic of this paper. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the changing social settings of nineteenth-century Parisian life as seen in Manet’s piece.

A Bar at the Folies

Bergère, by Manet, is a visual statement. The still like is done in a very new abstracted, very simple sort of quickly rendered approach. A newer and strange use of perspective. We are head-on with the woman but then her reflection and the reelection of a man that would be presumably on our side of the bar is slightly off. Manet makes statements with the Parisian life, the fact that there are gender issues tied up into the work of art.

That she, the barmaid, seems to be almost dehumanized. That she is numb to the fact that maybe she is being solicited. Manet adds that sort of aspect, more cultural or gender aspect of the work of art. Regardless the painting asks all sorts of questions which aren’t easily answerable but will be discussed and debated about.

Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère has many controversial and aspects that are heavily discussed by viewers of the piece.

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Audiences discuss both artistic and cultural aspects of the piece, the mirror, middle class, and barmaid are some of the most talked parts of the artwork. The woman is head on but her reflection along with the reflections of the man, that is presumably on our side, is slightly off. The reflections of the two main figures misrepresented. The barmaid seems to be larger around the waist in her reflection than her actual size. The man at the bar is much closer to the barmaid in the reflection than is possible from the viewer’s view of the bar. This isn’t the first time Manet misrepresents aspects of a piece.

In Manet’s artwork

The Absinthe Drinker, for example, portrays a man with a left leg obviously much longer than his right leg. The mirror also causes the background to become a background of people, lights and colors. The biggest problem with Manet’s depiction with the mirror’s reflection is that he rotates the figures around in the reflection while he flips the bar over thus making contrasting views in the reflection. The only question left to ask about the perspective of the mirror is did Manet mean to do it due to his fondness of ‘Japonisme’ art?

The middle class changed in France. The distribution of wealth changed from only lords and other dignified nobles from having all the money to the middle-class workers sharing it with the nobility class. The middle class has money now and can get together now to discuss the topics of the age, as it is the age of enlightenment. They go to salons to drink, eat, and for entertainment. Albert Boime gives his view on the crowd as what it wants as, “everything the crowd desires is displayed as commodities that mesmerize it even as they are unattainable, experiencing pleasure in the spectacle alone.” Manet shows the middle class in his artwork, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, watching a trapeze artist. This was a huge change from the past French life in that middle-class workers hadn’t been able to get into these salons in the past because they were only for the elite class members. The age of enlightenment opened the doors of opportunity to the middle class of France. Women became more involved in the work field an example being the barmaid by Monet.

The barmaid, the main figure in Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, has been thoroughly discussed over the years and some prominent views are that she is to sale. She is so multi-layered by Manet. She represents the women in France, they are a new part of the working middle-class, but they are also having to sell themselves. In the opinion of Ruth Iskin, “the saleswomen, by their daily contact with the rich customers, assuming certain graces, and finished by forming a vague nameless class, something between a work-girl and a middle- class lady.” Ruth Iskin also says the positioning of the barmaid in comparison with the male counterpart suggests that the man was “propositioning the young woman,” as her outfit is seen as “the costume of her employment,” and used to increase sales to eager men.

Another view is that she is bored, she has lost the warmth and welcome after serving so many people night after night. The barmaid can represent the new working class of women in France. Women become more involved and respected during the nineteenth century. A view is that Manet chooses the barmaid to be the prominent figure in the painting, not to be objectified, but to engage the audience of modern Paris. In the past women were passive and numbed figures, now women are no longer nudes in art, but are at the forefront of art with a strong sense of self-maintaining a career and life for herself. On the other hand, viewers wonder if one is supposed to see what she sees and feel how she feels. She is void of emotion, void of any interaction.

The strongest views of, Manets, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère are that of the mirror and its reflection. Upon seeing the painting viewers are met with the gaze of the barmaid, but once past the eyes of the barmaid they see the reflected background and it becomes clear that the perspectives of the mirror are not accurate. James Elkin attempts to mathematically make sense of the paint by making many diagrams to make sense of how the mirror would accurately reflect.

By doing this, the problems are the overall understanding of the painting, and if the mirror is curved, straight, or just plain wrong in its depiction. Elkin argues that people want to have logic and reason in the painting, but there is no way for this and one can’t let it detour from Manet’s work. A popular opinion is that the mirror is the view from the eyes of the barmaid. This view gives a reason for the inaccurate mirroring of the image. The artwork’s background is thus the image seen in the eyes of the barmaid’s mind. The mirror is a separate character in the piece. It confuses the spaces allowing the painting to change with a broad array of interpretation, another reason why it is the strongest view of the artwork. Kermit Champa accurately conveys Manet’s artistic prowess in these few words: “Like all of Manet’s best works the Bar looks right before it looks wrong, and the latter sensation never completely subverts the former.”

In conclusion, Manet appears to be very conscious of the rapidly changing, social, economic and political situations around him in nineteenth-century France. His portrayals of the barmaid and man at the bar point to his understanding of the changing social acceptance of increased sexuality in France, along with the booming growth of consumerism—as portrayed by the lavish background at the bar and the alcohol displayed. Overall, Manet’s consciousness of the social setting of his time and his calculated accuracy in portraying the complex changes of the time is a true sign of his artistic expertise and prowess.