O Aspargo

There is a good story behind this single spear of asparagus. In 1880 the collector Charles Ephrussi commissioned Manet to paint a bundle of asparagus and agreed on 800 francs. When the picture arrived Ephrussi was so pleased that he sent 1,000 francs instead. Manet, amused, painted this small canvas of one lone stalk resting on a marble ledge and mailed it to him with a note saying there had been one missing from his bunch. The larger bundle now hangs in Cologne while its stray spear stayed in Paris. For all the wit of the gesture, look how much Manet gets from a few strokes, the wet violet and green of the tip against the cold grey stone.