Philip Pullman on 'A Bar at the Folies-Bergère' by Edouard Manet, 1882.
This painting is full of mystery, ambiguity, doubt. At first sight it seems to do exactly what the title implies, and show a vivid lifelike view of a bar at the popular music hall. There is the marble counter with bottles and a dish of oranges; there is a barmaid behind it waiting to serve us; there is a mirror behind her… but here the mysteries begin.
(text and photo © the Daily Telegraph, UK)
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