Children in the Tuileries Gardens by Manet in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2023

Title: Children in the Tuileries Gardens

Artist: Edouard Manet (French, Paris 1832–1883 Paris)

Date: ca. 1861–62

Geography: Country of Origin France

Culture: French

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 14 7/8 × 18 1/8 in. (37.8 × 46 cm)
Framed: 21 3/4 × 25 1/4 × 3 1/2 in. (55.2 × 64.1 × 8.9 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Museum Appropriation Fund (42.190)

This everyday scene of children in a park reflects a shifting tableau of modern Parisian life. The viewer is led into the park by three girls, old enough to go there in a group, who encounter an older girl dressed in black. In contrast to their youth, a solitary man with a long white beard represents old age. Opposite him, a white child is accompanied by a Black nanny, a sign of the city’s changing demographics, which included a burgeoning free Black community. Although loosely sketched in without clear facial features, this figure is Manet’s first representation of Laure, who would later model for the maid in Olympia.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/844741