The Balcony by Édouard Manet
The Balcony by Édouard Manet depicts four figures on a balcony, one sitting, and the others standing. The painting was inspired by “Majas on the Balcony” by Francisco Goya. The three people in the foreground were all friends of Manet, and yet seem to be disconnected from each other. The seated figure looks like a romantic and inaccessible heroine. The two standing characters seem to display indifference. The boy in the background is not explicitly shown. For this painting, Manet adopted a restrained color palette, dominated by white, green, and black, with an accent of blue and red.
Seated on the left is the painter Berthe Morisot, who became the wife of Manet’s brother, Eugène. In the center is the painter Jean Baptiste Antoine Guillemet. On the right is Fanny Claus, a violinist. The fourth figure partially obscured in the interior’s background, is possibly Manet’s son. Manet kept this painting until his death in 1883.
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life and was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. His early masterpieces caused considerable controversy and served as an influence for the young painters who would create Impressionism. In the last two decades of Manet’s life, he develops his style that served as a significant influence on future painters.
The Balcony
- Title: The Balcony
- French: Le balcon
- Artist: Édouard Manet
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Date: 1868-1869
- Dimensions: 170 × 124.5 cm (1.8 × 1.3 yd)
- Museum: Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France
Édouard Manet
- Name: Édouard Manet
- Born: 1832 – Paris, France
- Died: 1883 (aged 51) – Paris, France
- Nationality: French
- Notable works:
- Olympia
- A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
- In the Conservatory
- The Balcony
- Spring
- Nana
A Tour of the Musée d’Orsay
- “The Starry Night Over the Rhône” by Vincent van Gogh
- “A Cart on the Snowy Road at Honfleur” by Claude Monet
- “The Basin at Argenteuil” by Claude Monet
- “Farmyard in Normandy” by Claude Monet
- “Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette” by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
- “Olympia” by Édouard Manet
- “Whistler’s Mother” by James McNeill Whistler
- “The Quai Saint-Michel and Notre-Dame” by Maximilien Luce
- The Balcony by Édouard Manet
- Country Dance by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
- The Cock Fight by Jean-Léon Gérôme
- “London, Houses of Parliament. The Sun Shining through the Fog” by Claude Monet
- “La Gare Saint-Lazare” by Claude Monet
- “The Seine and Notre-Dame in Paris” by Johan Jongkind
- “Blue Water Lilies” by Claude Monet
- “The Circus” by Georges Seurat
- Dancers by Pierre Bonnard
- “The Ball” by James Tissot
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“One must be of one’s time and paint what one sees.”
– Édouard Manet
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Photo Credit:Édouard Manet [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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