Édouard Manet
The Absinthe Drinker
1861
Scroll
Édouard Manet
The Absinthe Drinker
1861
Physical Qualities
Etching printed with tone, Sheet: 466 x 336 mm. (18 3/8 x 13 1/4 in.)
Plate: 291 x 173 mm. (11 7/16 x 6 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Nelson and Juanita Greif Gutman Fund
Object Number
2012.242
Manet often looked back to his earlier compositions for inspiration. His painting "The Absinthe Drinker" was his first independent work and was rejected from the Paris Salon of 1851. He repurposed the figure of the absinthe drinker in his 1862 canvas "The Old Musician" (National Gallery, Washington). This etching was produced after the original "Absinthe Drinker," albeit in reverse. Manet's inspiration for his representation of this Parisian type was likely Baudelaire's poem "Le vin des chiffoniers" from "Les Fleurs du Mal."
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2012; Childs Gallery, Boston; Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Bell, Cambridge
Inscribed: upper right in plate: "ed. Manet"
Markings: WM: Hudelist
