Impressionism · 1832–1883 · French

Édouard Manet

Manet flattened modelling into bold lights and darks and treated black as a color in its own right, as in Olympia and The Balcony.

Across 5 works, the colors are mostly brown (37%), black (33%) and gray (15%). On average the canvases are mid-toned, muted and warm. Signature colors, used far more here than across the collection: blue black, dark olive, very dark muted green, charcoal and bistre.

Color print

The swatches covering most of these canvases, averaged over every work, dark to light.

• MG 222 charcoal 12.9% of canvas
• MG 219 bistre 9.6% of canvas
• MG 221 blue black 9.5% of canvas
• MG 223 soot 5.4% of canvas
• MG 177 dark taupe 4.4% of canvas
• MG 195 dark olive 3.9% of canvas
• MG 171 bone 3.4% of canvas
• MG 218 graphite 2.7% of canvas
• MG 213 light grey 2.5% of canvas
• MG 194 dark golden olive 2.3% of canvas
• MG 217 iron 2.2% of canvas
• MG 176 taupe 2.2% of canvas
• MG 180 pale sand 2.1% of canvas
• MG 061 very dark muted green 2.1% of canvas
• MG 172 oatmeal 2.0% of canvas
• MG 214 pewter 2.0% of canvas

Measurements

Lightness

0.44

Contrast

0.59

Vividness

0.024

Warmth

+0.67

Complexity

180 cells

Hue range

0.38

Focus

0.11

Composition

Averaged over 5 works: 51% of the visual weight in the left half, 62% in the lower half; symmetry 0.25; 21% calm space; half of the detail in 29% of the canvas. Measured from each image, not a rule the painters followed.

Works

• Music in the Tuileries, 1862
• Luncheon on the Grass, 1863
• Olympia, 1863
• The Balcony, 1868
• A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1882