“The Races at Longchamp”
This oil on canvas painting is by the French Realism and Impressionism artist, Édouard Manet, from 1866. It is titled “The Races at Longchamp”.
In this piece, Manet depicts a horse race at the famed Longchamp track in Paris, France. The Longchamp racecourse had relatively recently opened in 1857 and is still in business today. It is located in Bois de Boulogne on the western edges of the city of Paris.
During the 1860s, artists were creating many more works of art depicting the leisure activities of Parisians. During the 1850s-70s, horse racing as a sport was going through a revival. In this painting, Manet captured that cultural moment in history.
Manet’s composition and perspective is quite modern. The commotion and energy in the painting is almost tangible. Traditional paintings of horse races are depicted from the side. Here. the viewer is directly in front of the oncoming horses, the crowd is a blur, and the fence left of center draws the viewer’s eyes directly into the action. The pole with the circle on top seen at center left marks the end of the race, meaning that Manet is capturing that final moment where the horses and riders give it their all.
“The Races at Longchamp” is currently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago in the United States.
For more on Édouard Manet, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
