L’Absinthe

L’Absinthe, oil painting created by French Impressionist artist Edgar Degas in 1875–76. Its shocking subject, a glimpse of real, modern life, initially met with a decidedly mixed reception.

Originally called Dans un Café, it was first shown at an Impressionist exhibition in 1876, and it acquired the name L’Absinthe (which refers both to the highly alcoholic beverage and to one who drinks it) when it was shown at the Grafton Gallery, London, in 1893. It was generally regarded as being disgusting when it first appeared, but it was in London where it caused a massive stir. For some, this was a ghastly affront to morals. The painting depicts the interior of the Café de la Nouvelle-Athènes in Paris, which was frequented by artists (though Degas painted it in his studio), and it gives the viewer the perspective of someone sitting at a table in the café. At a nearby table, what appears to be an alcoholic prostitute sits morosely before a glass of absinthe, while her equally depraved companion sits with a coffee-based hangover cure at his elbow. Degas used as his models for the couple the actress and model Ellen André and bohemian artist Marcellin Désboutin.

While most critics were put off by the degradation of the subject, others thought it a radical masterpiece. The artist produces a powerful composition by placing his main subject off-center with a large area of blank space in the foreground—something he often did. The technique, inspired by Japanese prints, in this painting evokes a sense of drunkenness. The tones are somber but balanced harmoniously across the canvas, with dramatic use of shadow. Those who judged this to be merely a scrappy image of street life failed to see it as the technically adept piece of portraiture and reportage that it undoubtedly is.