A Bar at the Folies-Bergère

1882

Oil on canvas, 96 × 130 cm. The Courtauld, London

A barmaid stands behind a marble counter at a Paris music hall, the crowded room behind her seen in a mirror. It was Manet's last major painting.

Reflections of the barmaid and the man who seems to be her customer are shifted right. The puzzling mirror conveys the hall's bustle, a night-life subject the Impressionists also painted.
Shown at the Salon of 1882, the year before Manet died.
Manet sketched at the hall, then painted it in the studio with a barmaid called Suzon posing.
Look at the counter: champagne, crème de menthe and Bass ale with its red triangle.
Samuel Courtauld bought it in 1926 and gave it to the Courtauld in 1934.

The Folies-Bergère, opened about a decade earlier, was one of the most popular music halls in Paris. Its barmaids worked in full view as part of the show.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain