On the Beach
by MANET, Edouard, Oil on canvas, 60 x 74 cm
This painting is the product of Manet’s 1872 trip to Holland, when the impact of Frans Hals was a great revelation. It was Hals, more then the Impressionists, who converted Manet to painting rapidly. He now put his “black” period behind him and embarked upon plein-air.
Madame Manet poses on the beach, and the intense black of her bonnet with its long strings defines the harmonies of the entire painting.