Edouard Manet - The Races, 1865-72 - 20211230_133829
Edouard Manet French, 1832-1883
The Races, 1865-72
Crayon lithograph on chine collé
Gift of W. G. Russell Allen, 1923, 23.132
Damned Manet! Everything he does he always hits off straight away, while I take endless pains and never get it right. -Edgar Degas
From its debut in 1857, horse racing at the Longchamp track was a seasonal social event drawing fashionable crowds to the Bois de Boulogne, a park to the west of Paris. Here, horses gallop directly toward the viewer, intense clusters of squiggles indicating a throng of spectators on the right. Some figures rise above this crowd, training their field glasses on the charging horses, we sense the tension and excitement and anticipate the thunder of hooves passing close by.
Edouard Manet - The Races, 1865-72 - 20211230_133829
Edouard Manet French, 1832-1883
The Races, 1865-72
Crayon lithograph on chine collé
Gift of W. G. Russell Allen, 1923, 23.132
Damned Manet! Everything he does he always hits off straight away, while I take endless pains and never get it right. -Edgar Degas
From its debut in 1857, horse racing at the Longchamp track was a seasonal social event drawing fashionable crowds to the Bois de Boulogne, a park to the west of Paris. Here, horses gallop directly toward the viewer, intense clusters of squiggles indicating a throng of spectators on the right. Some figures rise above this crowd, training their field glasses on the charging horses, we sense the tension and excitement and anticipate the thunder of hooves passing close by.