The Rue Mosnier with Flags

ÉDOUARD MANET, 1878, Getty Museum.

The composition is mostly empty space.

The street is our protagonist, supported by its adjacent sidewalk.

The vacant pathway glows with small brushstrokes of the lightest peaches, grays, and lilacs.

These colors are barely detectable but still create the shimmering effect of complementaries.

The fence on the left raises the volume on this theme, featuring in full force the hues which became tints for the street.

Prussian blue for the figure on crutches and ladder in the background, as well as the wraith-like gentleman in a top hat on the opposite sidewalk.

Ultramarine blue for the other sidewalk figures and distant shadows.

By repeating Prussian blue in both foreground and mid-ground, the space of the painting is subtly compressed.

The empty street provides necessary contrast to the halo of fluttering tricolor flags around the perimeter.

The flags are quick, economical slashes, made by a limber hand.

The artist is not attached to outcome.

The red of the flags does not vary from background to foreground, once again flattening the composition and bringing it to the viewer all at once.

The space between us and the painting is dissolving.

We are in the foreground, mid-ground, and background simultaneously. We are outside the painting and we are disappearing into it.

The empty street is an invitation, extending beyond the scene to exactly where we are standing.

We are walking down the street in the sunshine, tinged by peach and lilac, and the breeze that bends the flags around us rustles alongside, whispering in our ear. ☙