Édouard Manet’s painting A Bar at the Folies-Bergère has long been one of my favourite works of art. I’ve been looking at it for years, but it took me a long time to notice one tiny detail that easily goes unnoticed.
The image shows a scene from the Folies-Bergère, a popular entertainment venue in Paris not far from Montmartre.
Detail from ‘A Bar at the Folies-Bergère’ (1881–1882) by Édouard Manet. Oil on canvas. 96 × 130 cm. Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK. Image source Wikimedia Commons
The tiny detail I’m talking about occurs in the top-left corner of the painting. Notice a pair of legs with green shoes on.
These legs belong to a trapeze artist swinging high above the audience. What I like about this detail is its humour and also how it suggests that a lively, raucous evening at the Folies-Bergère is now underway.