Manet

Edouard Manet

A Bar at the Folies-Bergere

c. 1882

Oil on canvas

Manet does a beautiful job in this painting capturing the barmaid and the rest of the bar pictured in the mirror behind her. Manet often associated oranges with prostitutes in his paintings. So the bowl of oranges pictured hints that the barmaid is not only offering her drink making services. The bottles pictured on the table mimic the barmaid's body shape, making the painting subtly more sexualized. The flowers pictured and the barmaid's facial expression hint that the barmaid is a sensitive woman. Something about this painting that I've never noticed is the green feet in the upper left-hand corner of the image. The green feet are those of a trapeze artist who is performing.