The Barricade by Manet in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2023

Title: The Barricade

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

Printer: Lemercier & Cie. (French, Paris)

Date: ca. 1871, published 1884

Medium: Lithograph on chine collé; second state of two

Dimensions: Image: 18 5/16 × 13 1/8 in. (46.5 × 33.4 cm)

Sheet: 23 15/16 × 17 5/16 in. (60.8 × 44 cm)

Classification: Prints

Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Drawings and Prints Gifts, 2022

Object Number: 2022.18

Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

This print presents Manet’s response to the French government’s brutal suppression of the Paris Commune in 1871 filtered through the lens of art historical precedents and the artist’s own prior work. Manet borrowed the soldiers who fire upon the Communards from his censored print, "The Execution of Maximilian" (21.48), which referenced the work of Spanish painter Francisco Goya. Through this layering and the explicit depiction of violence, Manet makes clear his condemnation of the government’s actions and, consequently, the print remained unpublished until the year following the artist’s death. Beyond its political critique, the work displays Manet’s lively use of the lithographic medium. He employed the side of the crayon to indicate the brightly lit architecture of the background with broad strokes and reserved areas of the paper to suggest the rifles’ smoke.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/856704