In the Conservatory

Édouard Manet

Oil on canvas

Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin

This celebrated oil painting depicts a fashionable Parisian couple — the Guillemets, owners of a successful clothing boutique — seated amid the lush, exotic greenery of a conservatory, their hands nearly touching across a bench that serves as both a physical and emotional barrier between them. Manet renders the scene with his signature loose, confident brushwork and a subtle tension: the woman gazes distantly into space while her husband leans toward her, creating an ambiguity about their relationship that captivated and even scandalized viewers of the 1879 Paris Salon. Édouard Manet (1832–1883) was a pivotal French painter whose bold, modern approach bridged Realism and Impressionism, and whose unflinching depictions of contemporary Parisian life made him one of the most influential — and controversial — artists of the 19th century. Hanging this masterpiece in your home brings with it a window into the complex elegance of Belle Époque Paris, painted by the man widely regarded as the father of modern art.