In a literal sense, of course, she is a counterfeit – as is every sitter of every portrait ever created. The woman whose shimmering and enigmatic presence we find so affecting is not real, but a painterly fabrication – a fantasy magicked into being by the alchemy of pigments and oil – a knock-off. As for us, standing in the very spot where the shadowy man who seeks to purchase the barmaid’s body is positioned, we too, as consumers of the work, are forever implicated in the tawdry transaction. He is us and we’re him – both traders in commodified souls, both forever on the verge of being smudged out of life’s frame.

Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bèrgeres is currently on show at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris as part of The Courtauld Collection: A Vision for Impressionism from 20 February to 17 June 2019 as The Courtauld Gallery is temporarily closed for a major redevelopment project. For more information visit https://connects.courtauld.ac.uk

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