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The Brioche

1870
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 810
Manet reportedly called still life the "touchstone of the painter." From 1862 to 1870 he executed several large-scale tabletop scenes of fish and fruit, of which this is the last and most elaborate. It was inspired by the donation to the Louvre of a painting of a brioche by Jean Siméon Chardin, the eighteenth-century French master of still life. Like Chardin, Manet surrounded the buttery bread with things to stimulate the senses—a brilliant white napkin, soft peaches, glistening plums, a polished knife, a bright red box—and, in traditional fashion, topped the brioche with a fragrant flower.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Brioche
  • Artist: Edouard Manet (French, Paris 1832–1883 Paris)
  • Date: 1870
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 25 5/8 x 31 7/8 in. (65.1 x 81 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift and Bequest of David and Peggy Rockefeller, 1991, 2017
  • Object Number: 1991.287
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Cat and Flowers, Edouard Manet French, Etching and aquatint; third (final) state; posthumous edition
Cat and Flowers
Edouard Manet
1869
The Smoker (Le Fumeur), Edouard Manet French, Etching on blue laid paper, final state (II)
The Smoker (Le Fumeur)
Edouard Manet
1866–67
Boy with Soap Bubbles, Edouard Manet French, Etching, lavis aquatint, and roulette on laid paper, second state of four
Boy with Soap Bubbles
Edouard Manet
1867–69
The Smoker (Le Fumeur), Edouard Manet French, Etching and drypoint on blue laid paper, only state
The Smoker (Le Fumeur)
Edouard Manet
1879–82
The Water Drinker, Edouard Manet French, Etching and drypoint
The Water Drinker
Edouard Manet
1870–74

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