Civil War — Édouard Manet

ABOUT THIS WORK

A lone soldier lies slumped behind a makeshift barricade in this lithograph, a stark image of the violence that engulfed Paris in 1871. Manet created this print during a period of immense upheaval, as France reeled from defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the subsequent revolutionary Paris Commune. The scene, while drawing on a pose from an earlier painting of a dead toreador, has been transformed into a powerful commentary on contemporary events. The soldier’s uniform is indistinct, making him a universal figure of sacrifice, while the glimpse of a striped civilian pant leg at the lower right subtly suggests the intrusion of war into everyday life. The stark black and white, achieved through lithography with scraping, amplifies the somber mood, emphasizing the raw brutality of the conflict.

DETAILS

Artist: Édouard Manet
Date: 1871
Medium: Lithograph in black, with scraping, on ivory chine with red and blue fibers laid down on ivory wove paper (chine collé)
Location: Art Institute of Chicago
Dimensions: Image: 39.8 × 50.7 cm (15 11/16 × 20 in.); Primary support: 40 × 51 cm (15 3/4 × 20 1/8 in.); Secondary support: 49 × 60.9 cm (19 5/16 × 24 in.)
Collection: Prints and Drawings
Culture: France
Credit line: John H. Wrenn Fund

ART MOVEMENTS

Impressionism

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What to Notice

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01

The fallen soldier

The dark, heavy mass of the dead soldier fills the center. His coat melts into a black shape, so he reads as a body before a person.

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02

The stone barricade

A wall of loose stones stretches across the middle of the scene. It closes off the background and pushes the body forward toward us.

2 of 4 on the painting

03

Raised boot

A boot kicks up at the right end of the body, and a small dark shape stands near it. The raised foot makes the stillness of the figure feel starker.

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04

Striped trouser leg

At the lower right, another leg and shoe enter the frame, with what looks like striped fabric. It hints at more fallen figures just outside the scene.

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05Whole painting

Rough crayon lines

Fast, scratchy strokes of black crayon build every surface, with light scraped out in places. The hurried marks feel like a report from the scene.

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THE ARTIST