Virtually explore the Courtauld Gallery with Smarthistory as your guide
Some background
videos + essays
Link to the Courtauld Gallery's website
Better Know: Manet’s Bar
You've likely seen this glassy-eyed late 19th Century barmaid before, but what can we make of this painting today?
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère with Griselda Pollock
Griselda Pollock unpacks some of the questions raised by Manet’s last masterpiece.
Édouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
Manet turns the tables—or in this case, the bar—on how we view painting.
Auguste Renoir, La Loge
The Paris Opera was a who’s who of society, and the attendees were as much on display as the performers.
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Adam and Eve
Is that a lion, or a dog? Cranach’s peculiar animals have us scratching our heads along with Adam.
Paul Gauguin, Nevermore
Gauguin’s nude is suspended between dreams and reality— just like his imperialistic vision of Tahiti.
Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Plaster Cupid
All conventions of perspective are called into question in Cézanne’s meditation on the nature of experience.
Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear
An optimistic message to his doctors, or a farewell letter to his utopian artistic dream? We’re all ears.
