L'Absinthe

A man named Edgar Degas made a painting.

It shows a man and a woman. They sit in a cafe in Paris. The woman wears a nice hat and dress. She looks down at her drink. The man wears a hat too. He looks away to the side. They both look lonely and sad. Some people did not like the art. They thought the painting was ugly. Now, the painting is in a museum in France. It is a very famous work of art.

Edgar Degas made a famous painting.

It is called "L'Absinthe." This name means "The Absinthe Drinker." The painting shows a man and a woman. They sit in a cafe in Paris. The woman wears a nice hat and dress. She looks down at her drink. The man wears a hat too. He looks away to the side. Both people look lonely and tired. They sit at a table in the Café de la Nouvelle-Athènes. The woman is drinking absinthe.

When the painting first showed, people were angry. Critics in 1876 called it ugly. Later, people in England saw it in 1893. They also did not like it. They thought the people in the art were bad. Some thought the painting was a warning. They thought it showed the bad effects of drink. One writer even called the woman a name. But another man said it was just art. The painting was once owned by people in Britain. Now, it lives in the Musée d'Orsay. This is a big museum in Paris, France.

Edgar Degas made a famous oil painting.

It is called "L'Absinthe." This name means "The Absinthe Drinker." The painting shows a man and a woman. They sit side-by-side at a table. The woman wears a formal hat and dress. She looks downward with a blank stare. The man wears a hat too. He looks off to the right side. Both people seem very lonely and tired. They are sitting in the Café de la Nouvelle-Athènes in Paris. The woman has a glass of absinthe in front of her.

Degas used real people as models for this work. The woman in the painting was Ellen Andrée. She was an actress who appeared in other paintings. The man was a painter named Marcellin Desboutin.

He was also an etcher. Degas captured them in a quiet moment. The painting shows how they look while they rest. It is a study of people in a cafe. The scene feels very still and calm.

This painting has had many different names. Degas painted it between 1875 and 1876. One early name was "A sketch of a French Café." Another name was "Figures at Café." In 1893, the title changed for an exhibit in London. It became "L'Absinthe," which is the name we use today. This change happened when the work went to the Grafton Gallery. The painting has traveled to many places since then. It has a long history of being moved and renamed.

People had very strong feelings about this art. In 1876, critics called the painting ugly. They even called it disgusting. When it went to England in 1893, people were very upset. Critics like Sir William Blake Richmond and Walter Crane saw it. They thought the painting was bad for morality. Some thought it was a warning about drinking. One writer named George Moore was very harsh. He even called the woman a bad name. However, Moore later said it was just a work of art.

Many people owned this painting over the years. A man named Captain Henry Hill bought it in 1876. He was a collector from Brighton. Later, a dealer named Alexander Reid bought it at an auction in 1892. He bought it for a client named Arthur Kay. Kay was not sure if he liked it. He sold it to a Paris dealer in 1893. Today, the painting is in a special place. It is part of the permanent collection at the Musée d'Orsay.

This is a famous museum in Paris.

Edgar Degas created a famous oil painting titled "L'Absinthe." This title translates to "The Absinthe Drinker" or "A Glass of Absinthe." The artwork was painted between 1875 and 1876. It serves as a powerful portrait of urban life in Paris. The painting captures a quiet, somber moment in a public space. Today, it is a significant piece in the Musée d'Orsay collection in Paris. It remains a subject of intense study for art historians.

The composition focuses on two people sitting side-by-side at a table. A woman sits in the foreground, dressed in fashionable attire. She wears a formal hat and a stylish dress. Her gaze is vacant as she stares downward. In front of her sits a glass filled with absinthe. Beside her sits a man wearing a hat. He does not look at the woman or the viewer. Instead, he gazes toward the right, off the edge of the canvas. Both figures appear lethargic and lonely in their setting. This scene takes place at the Café de la Nouvelle-Athènes in Paris.

Degas used specific individuals to serve as the models for this scene. The woman is portrayed by Ellen Andrée. She was a professional actress of the time. Andrée also appeared as a subject in other works, such as Édouard Manet's "Chez le père Lathuille" and "Plum Brandy." The man in the painting is Marcellin Desboutin. Desboutin was a known painter and an etcher. His likeness provides a realistic face to the man in the cafe. Using real people helped Degas capture a sense of authentic human emotion.

The painting has undergone several changes in its identity and title. Originally, Degas used different names for the work. One early title was "A sketch of a French Café." Another version was titled "Figures at Café." The name we use most often, "L'Absinthe," was not used until much later. In 1893, the painting was exhibited at the Grafton Gallery in London. It was at this English exhibition that the title was changed. This change helped define how the public perceives the work today.

When the painting first appeared in 1876, it received very harsh reviews. Critics panned the work, calling it both ugly and disgusting. It was shown at the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877. However, it did not see much public attention until an auction in 1892. During that auction, the painting was again treated with derision. The controversy grew even larger when it reached England in 1893. Many people found the subject matter to be shockingly degraded and uncouth. The reaction was a reflection of the era's social values.

Victorian critics in England viewed the painting through a moral lens. Figures such as Sir William Blake Richmond and Walter Crane saw the work. They believed the painting was a blow to morality. Many English viewers saw the image as a warning against drinking absinthe. They also viewed it as a critique of French culture. The writer George Moore offered a very harsh comment on the woman. He called her a "whore" and called the tale a lesson. Later, in his book "Modern Painting," Moore changed his view. He argued the painting was merely art and not about sociology.

The painting has a complex history of ownership and movement. In 1876, it was purchased from a London dealer named Charles Deschamps. The buyer was Captain Henry Hill, a collector from Brighton. After Hill passed away, the painting went to a London auction in February 1892. A Scottish dealer named Alexander Reid bought it for his client, Arthur Kay. Kay felt ambivalent about the piece. He eventually sold it to a dealer in Paris in April 1893. This journey brought the painting back to France, where it eventually found a permanent home.

"L'Absinthe" connects to broader themes in art history and sociology. It sits at the intersection of Impressionism and the study of modern life. The painting explores how people interact with public spaces and substances. It also highlights the tension between different national views of art. For example, Victorian England often viewed French art with deep suspicion. They looked for moral lessons in every piece of art they saw. Degas, however, focused on the raw reality of the cafe scene. This makes the work a vital study of human connection and isolation.