Édouard Manet

In this sketch set in a public garden, Manet captures a trio of little girls in momentary stillness. Tilting their heads toward an older girl who gestures in their direction, they share the public space with an old man in a straw hat and a woman in a bright red headscarf. Manet records the mingling of different classes and defines their distinctive clothing with loose brushstrokes, rhythmically punctuating their activity with a screen of chestnut trees. 

Manet perceived Paris as an urban theater, and often turned chance encounters into subjects for his paintings. In this oil sketch set in a formal garden, he captures a trio of little girls in momentary stillness. Tilting their heads toward an older girl who gestures in their direction, they share the public space with an old man in a straw hat and a nursemaid of African or Caribbean origin who attends her pampered charge. Manet records the mingling of different economic classes and defines their distinctive costumes with loose brushstrokes, rhythmically punctuating the activity with a screen of chestnut trees whose dark trunks lead the viewer further along the garden’s sandy paths.