Where can you see Édouard Manet in London?

At the Courtauld Gallery: A Bar at the Folies-Bergère. At the National Gallery: The Execution of Maximilian. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

What is Édouard Manet's most famous work in London?

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, of 1882, at the Courtauld Gallery. A barmaid stands behind a marble counter of bottles and oranges, looking out blankly. The mirror behind her shows the crowd, the chandeliers, a trapeze artist's feet, and her own back talking to a man who ought to be standing where you are.

When and where was Édouard Manet born?

On 23 January 1832, at Paris, France. Édouard Manet died on 30 April 1883, at Paris, France, aged about 51.

What is Édouard Manet known for?

Painted A Bar at the Folies-Bergère the year before he died. Samuel Courtauld bought it in 1926. Degas tracked down the cut pieces of The Execution of Maximilian and put them together. Édouard Manet was a French painter, of Realism and Impressionism.

Painter, 1832 to 1883

Édouard Manet

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère is the picture that makes people cross London to a small gallery on the Strand. Manet painted it in 1882, already too ill to stand for long, and died the next year.

Born: 1832, Paris, France
Died: 1883, Paris, France
Movement: Realism and Impressionism
In London: 2 works in 2 museums

Where to see Édouard Manet in London

Each work with the museum it hangs in. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

The Courtauld Gallery1 work

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
1882
A barmaid stands behind a marble counter of bottles and oranges, looking out blankly. The mirror behind her shows the crowd, the chandeliers, a trapeze artist's feet, and her own back talking to a man who ought to be standing where you are.

The National Gallery1 work

The Execution of Maximilian
about 1867 to 1868
A firing squad shoots the emperor France had set up in Mexico and abandoned. The canvas was cut into pieces after Manet's death, and four of them are mounted here on one canvas with gaps between.

The life of Édouard Manet

Manet was born in Paris in 1832, the son of a senior civil servant, and wanted nothing more than official success. He never got it. The jury of the Salon refused the Déjeuner sur l'herbe in 1863, and when Olympia was accepted two years later it had to be hung out of reach of the public's umbrellas.

The younger painters who became the Impressionists treated him as their leader, though he never showed with them. He painted Paris as it was: its cafés, its racecourses, its bars. He died in 1883, at fifty-one.

What to know

Painted A Bar at the Folies-Bergère the year before he died
Samuel Courtauld bought it in 1926
Degas tracked down the cut pieces of The Execution of Maximilian and put them together

Born: 23 January 1832, Paris, France
Died: 30 April 1883, Paris, France

Édouard Manet: common questions

Where can you see Édouard Manet in London?: At the Courtauld Gallery: A Bar at the Folies-Bergère. At the National Gallery: The Execution of Maximilian. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.
What is Édouard Manet's most famous work in London?: A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, of 1882, at the Courtauld Gallery. A barmaid stands behind a marble counter of bottles and oranges, looking out blankly. The mirror behind her shows the crowd, the chandeliers, a trapeze artist's feet, and her own back talking to a man who ought to be standing where you are.
When and where was Édouard Manet born?: On 23 January 1832, at Paris, France. Édouard Manet died on 30 April 1883, at Paris, France, aged about 51.
What is Édouard Manet known for?: Painted A Bar at the Folies-Bergère the year before he died. Samuel Courtauld bought it in 1926. Degas tracked down the cut pieces of The Execution of Maximilian and put them together. Édouard Manet was a French painter, of Realism and Impressionism.