The Balcony

The Balcony (1868) by Édouard Manet. Its palette is led by blue black (#1b1a1b, 41%) and light grey (#a9b0b4, 19%), with accents of golden umber. Overall the canvas is mid-toned, muted and cool.

Color note

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

Palette

#1b1a1b MG 221 blue black 41.1% of canvas
#a9b0b4 MG 213 light grey 18.8% of canvas
#414e45 MG 217 iron 18.1% of canvas
#577162 MG 057 muted lime green 15.1% of canvas
#a18661 MG 182 golden umber 6.9% of canvas

Color families

Black 38%, Gray 33%, Green 14%, Brown 10%, Blue 3%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.43
Contrast: 0.59
Vividness: 0.016
Warmth: -0.54
Complexity: 169 cells
Hue range: 0.38
Focus: 0.07

Composition

58% of the visual weight is in the right half, 74% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.23 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 27% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 27% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: 1868
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 170.0 × 124.5 cm
Genre: genre art
Collection: Musée d'Orsay, Paris

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