Realism in France

Édouard Manet

Street Singer

about 1862

Oil on canvas, 171.1 × 105.8 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

A singer with a guitar steps out of a café, eating cherries from a paper parcel.

• Manet saw a singer leave a café and later had Victorine Meurent pose for the figure in his studio.
• The MFA quotes Zola praising Manet's ability to "state frankly what he sees."
• A chance moment of city life, with an awkward, unguarded gesture.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain