THE WAITRESS / Eduard Manet
At the end of the 19th century, a new revolutionary movement appeared in France and influenced dramatically the approach of representing art and its evaluation. In comparison to naturalism and detailed depiction of Realism or Baroque, the paintings got emphasis rather on emotions caused by a certain situation or by an image, conveying just an impression from the light or mood.
Sometimes we cannot remember all the details of a particular situation, but we retain a vague image in our mind and the associated emotions. Édouard Manet in his painting “The Waitress” wanted not just to illustrate a scene, but to depict an immediate impression, concentrating on light, “frozen motions”, forms and colour values. This is a specific feature of the Impressionism, a very significant famous art movement originated in France, which became very popular throughout the world.
Manet is considered to be “the father of Impressionism” and was one of the first artists in the 19th century who painted modern social life: people walking or drinking beer, reading, smoking in cafés, listening to music or having relaxed picnics. This is a revolutionary new approach to the subject matters in paintings, which was often criticized by public at that time, same as the way of depicting. In “The Waitress” we see the example of Parisian Bohemian life, a scene in a café, where the waitress is serving beer while a man is smoking a pipe, musicians are playing the music, a ballerina is greeting the visitors at the stage. The other guests next to the smoking man are depicted very close to each other – Manet is not using any perspective, but paints the man’s hat right next to the woman’s head; it looks quite flat and is absolutely two-dimensional. But on the other hand – when we’re in a packed bar, we’ve got the feeling that all is mixed; the same is here – probably the artist wanted to convey the atmosphere of the leisure evening at the café which was full of people!
Manet made his painting with oil, using long, lose, at first sight casual brushstrokes. He doesn’t depict details of faces or clothes: a man in front of the stage (probably a musician playing the wind) has hardly any eyes or nose, just fluffy curly hair; the hand of the musician with a cello is rather a colour spot, but a few brush strokes give us an impression that they are moving. We can notice though the flowers in a woman’s hair, the beer froth in the glasses, the beautiful figure of the ballerina making a bow for the public. All these details give us a picture of a very relaxed, cheerful atmosphere.
We can notice that the right side of the painting differs from the left one, first of all by colours (for instance, the shirt of the visitor and the background of the stage) – the right side has much higher and bright values. Apparently, the artist used two canvases for this painting. It looks like there is a vertical line on the right side of the work. Apart from that, if we look attentively, we can notice that some lines don’t match, like the shoulder of the waitress or the line of the blue shirt. We might assume, that probably Manet planned to make a smaller painting at first, and then attached the further part, making a complete figure of the waitress and adding another person – a musician with a cello behind her. If we close the right part though, the left one seems rather incomplete, and in this case, emphasis falls more into the visitor in blue shirt, smoking the pipe. Bearing in mind that the waitress is the central figure (as the painting is called), why should the artist distract attention from her? Although the figure of the visitor with the pipe is located in the centre and takes probably the most of the work’s space, Manet emphasizes the image of the waitress with light on her face; besides, she is the only one in the picture whose eyes are depicted, and we can see the expression of her face. Completing her image with a white skirt, which balances the low values of the work, as well as with the hand holding two beers, makes her the main character in the painting. Additionally, if we remove the right part of the painting, we’ll get a quite disproportionate size of canvas, rather long in height but narrow. The final version, consisting of two parts, represents a usual form of painting where one side is approximately 1/3 longer than the other. So apparently, the painting, which we see now, might be the original conception of the artist, but why did he use two canvases? Maybe one part of it was damaged when he already started to work? Or there is another secret meaning?
It is interesting that a year later Manet painted another “Waitress”, similar to this one, but with fewer details: no musicians, from the dancer we can see just a hand, all attention is attracted only to the same main figures: the waitress and the man in a blue shirt smoking a pipe. On this painting the woman looks straight to the viewers, with the same quiet, self-confident, friendly, but at the same time a little surprised look. In the first version it looks like she’s somewhere else with her own thoughts, as she is even not looking at the people, which she’s serving. Or maybe she has noticed that somebody else has arrived or needs another cup of beer?
The painting “Waitress” is one of some other artists’ works depicting Parisian social life at that period. Manet painted modern life in all its manifestations. Might it be social activities (“The races at Longchamp”, “Bullfight”, “Music in the Tuileries”), scenes at cafés (“A Bar at the Folies-Bergère”, “The Café Concert”), landscape paintings (“Effect of Snow on Petit-Montrouge”, “Clair de lune sur le port de Boulogne”), an event from the war (“The Execution of Emperor Maximilian”, “The Barricade”), or just portraits of various people. He often uses the same technique as with “The Waitress” (like in “The Reading”, “Plum Brandy”, “Boating”) and captures some natural moments (like in “The Luncheon on the Grass”, “The Balcony”, “The Railway”, “Argenteuil”). Thanks to Manet’s works we can learn more about life in France in his period, he managed to convey not only the information though, but also some emotional impressions, what makes the art even more thrilling.