France: 'Un bar aux Folies-Bergère' (A Bar at the Folies-Bergere). Oil on canvas, Édouard Manet (1832-1883), 1882

The painting exemplifies Manet's commitment to Realism in its detailed representation of a contemporary scene. Many features have puzzled critics but almost all of them have been shown to have a rationale, and the painting has been the subject of numerous popular and scholarly articles.

The central figure stands before a mirror, although critics—accusing Manet of ignorance of perspective and alleging various impossibilities in the painting—have debated this point since the earliest reviews were published. In 2000, however, a photograph taken from a suitable point of view of a staged reconstruction was shown to reproduce the scene as painted by Manet.

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Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

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Pictures From History