Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Smoker

Édouard Manet

Date

1866

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This working-class character was one of many ordinary Parisians painted by Manet in the 1860s. A year before making this portrait, Manet had traveled to Madrid, Spain, where he was reportedly enchanted by the naturalistic depictions of common people painted by Diego Velásquez in the 1600s. Manet emulated the Spanish master in his own series of everyday scenes while adding a modern twist: elevating the images to the impressive scale of a formal portrait. This is a Louis XIV revival frame from the nineteenth century, a Gift of the Douglas and Mary Olson Frame Acquisition Fund. Frames of this style are characterized by their leaf and floral motif. Here these sculptural elements appear to be growing and reaching beyond the frame. France, Europe

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