Mastodawn

Manet's famous painting Un Bar aux Folies-Bergère never appealed to me. But now I realize its genius, and my spine tingles every time I see it.

The perspective looks all wrong. You're staring straight at this barmaid, but her reflection in the mirror is way off to right. Even worse, her reflection is facing a guy who doesn't appear in the main view!

But in 2000, a researcher showed this perspective is actually possible!!! To prove it, he did a photographic reconstruction of this scene. Check it out in my next post.

This blows my mind.

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Martin Escardo Mar 7

@johncarlosbaez This painting and your thread caused an interesting discussion with my 16-year old son and my wife, starting with my son asking "why do you have this painting open in your computer".

Edit. My son doesn't buy your explanation. I haven't made up my mind. 🙂

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Martin Escardo

@johncarlosbaez From my reading of the painting, the first thing that caught my attention was not what you pointed out about the perspective, but the expression of the face. The painting is all about that, as I understand it.