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We find ourselves on an emerald-green, grassy racetrack as a dusty cluster of horses and their jockeys bear directly down on us in this loosely painted horizontal landscape. Closest to us, three horses run with their legs widely splayed and a fourth brings up the close rear to our left. Only closer inspection reveals a fifth horse nearby, seen over the shoulder of the jockey to our left of center. All the horses are chestnut brown except the second from our right, which is black. The faces of the jockeys are indistinct but they seem to have light skin. The jockey on the left-most horse wears celery and lemon-lime green. The jockey on the nearly hidden horse wears a sky-blue vest with shell-pink sleeves and a pink hat. The jockey to our left in the closest pair, on the black horse, wears silvery-white and his neighbor wears steel blue. Slate-gray fences line the racetrack to either side and beyond both, speckles, flicks, and dots of brown, black, and cream suggest spectators. Pine-green and olive-colored trees touched with specks of yellow and peach fill the background to the right of the track. The trees reach beyond the top edge of the panel, and the sliver of sky above is marine blue. The artist signed the work with blue paint in the lower right corner: “Manet.”

Edouard Manet

At the Races, c. 1875

Not on View

Medium

oil on wood

Dimensions

overall: 12.6 x 21.9 cm (4 15/16 x 8 5/8 in.)

framed: 36.2 x 45.4 x 4.4 cm (14 1/4 x 17 7/8 x 1 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.41

Artists / Makers

Edouard Manet (artist) French, 1832 - 1883

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower right: Manet

Provenance

(Camentron, Paris); probably by whom sold to (Durand-Ruel, New York and Paris), from 1899; acquired 1913 by Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA.

Associated Names

Camentron
Durand-Ruel et Cie
Widener, Joseph E.

Exhibition History

1886: Works in Oil and Pastel by The Impressionists, American Art Galleries, New York, 1886, no. 15

1905: Pictures by Boudin, Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, Grafton Galleries, London, 1905, no. 34, as Races at Longchamps

1982: Manet and Modern Paris, National Gallery of Art, 1982-1983, no. 45, repro.

2013: Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art, Museo dell'Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome (exhibition title in this venue: Impressionist Gems); California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, Seattle Art Museum, 2013-2016.

Bibliography

1902: Duret, Théodore. Histoire de Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre. Paris, 1902: no. 232.

1910: Duret, Théodore. Manet and the French Impressionists. Translated by J.E. Crawford Flitch. London and Philadelphia, 1910: 220, 246, 278.

1915: Roberts, William. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: British and Modern French Schools, Philadelphia, 1915: unpaginated, repro.

1919: Duret, Théodore. Histoire de Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre. Paris, 1919: no. 232.

1923: Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro.

1931: Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 208, repro.

1931: Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet: histoire catalographique. Paris, 1931:

1932: Colin, Paul. Edouard Manet. Paris, 1932:39-40 , repro. pl. LIII

1932: Jamot, Paul, and Georges Wildenstein. Manet. 2 vols. Paris, 1932: 1:143, no. 205.

1933: Rich, Daniel Catton, ed. A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture. Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago,1933: 48.

1938: Brimo, René. L'évolution du goût aux Etats-Unis d'après l'histoire des collections. Paris, 1938: 117

1938: The Horse. Its Significance in Art. Exh. cat. Fogg Museum of Art, Cambridge, 1938:under no. 14.

1938: Waldmann, Emil. "Die Sammlung Widener." Pantheon 22 (November 1938): 335.

1946: Huth, Hans. "Impressionism Comes to America." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 29 (April 1946):239

1947: Florisoone, Michel. Manet. Monaco, 1947:plate 54

1947: Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet et ses oeuvres. Paris, 1947: 100-102, 605

1948: Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 107, repro.

1959: National Gallery of Art. Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. Reprint. Washington, DC, 1959: 106, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 81.

1966: Harris, Jean C. "Manet's Racetrack Paintings." Art Bulletin 48 (March 1966): 78-82

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 72, repro.

1969: "Magie de l'image." L'Oeil 207 (May 1969): 122, repro.

1970: Orienti, Sandra. The Complete Paintings of Manet. London, 1970:94, no. 87D

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 208, repro.

1975: Rouart, Denis and Daniel Wildenstein. Edouard Manet, catalogue raisonné 2 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1975:I:98, no. 97

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 453, no. 653, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 242, repro.