The Plum

Around 1877 Manet set a young woman alone at a marble cafe table in Paris, a glass of plum brandy in front of her and an unlit cigarette between her fingers. The cafe was the new social stage of the city, and painters kept returning to the woman sitting on her own in it. A year earlier Degas had done much the same in his absinthe picture, using the actress Ellen Andree, thought to be the model here too. Manet gives her a softer mood, more daydream than despair. The cigarette stays unlit and the brandy sits untouched, and she looks past both of them at nothing in particular.