A Loge at the Théâtre des Italiens
by GONZALÈS, Eva, Oil on canvas, 98 x 130 cm
Manet’s pupil, Eva Gonzal�s has had little success with art lovers and critics to this day. Her modest output is uneven - though the same can be said of her more famous fellows. Her concepts and techniques were decisively influenced by Manet, whom she greatly admired. A Loge at the Th�âtre des Italiens - probably rejected by the 1874 Salon and not accepted till 1879 - suffers if compared with Renoir’s painting of the same subject, in terms of composition, colouring, and the warm, insinuating magic of the model.. Nor does it have the elusive expressiveness of Manet’s figural groups. The dry energy of its structure, though, perhaps appeals more to the tastes of an era after Impressionism than it did to contemporaries.