In this painting, all Manet's favorite themes recur. The cat from 'Olympia', the half-peeled lemon, the knife placed diagonally to indicate the perspective, the plant in the Japanese pot. "The Orientals used black as a colour, particularly the Japanese in their engravings. Closer to home, I recall that in one of Manet's paintings he uses a bold and luminous black for the velvet jacket worn by the young man in the straw hat." -Matisse |
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