Where Is Music in the Tuileries? See It at National Gallery

Q: Where can I see Music in the Tuileries?

It's at the National Gallery in London. Édouard Manet painted it in 1862. It's considered one of the earliest paintings of modern Parisian life.

Q: What does the painting show?

An afternoon concert in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris. The crowd includes fashionably dressed Parisians mingling under the trees. Manet included portraits of real people: the poet Baudelaire, composer Offenbach, and the artist himself (on the far left, partially cut off).

Q: Why is this painting important?

It's one of the first paintings to treat contemporary urban life as a worthy subject for serious art. There's no mythological or historical pretext. It's just people in a park. This directness influenced the Impressionists, who would make everyday life their primary subject.

Q: How big is Music in the Tuileries?

It measures 76.2 cm × 118.1 cm (30 × 46.5 inches). The loose brushwork and lack of clear focal point frustrated critics who expected polished compositions. The faces blur into a crowd, anticipating the Impressionist approach to capturing atmosphere over detail.

Q: What style is this painting?

It's proto-Impressionist. Manet painted parts of it outdoors in the gardens, sketching directly from life. The flat, bright colors and cropped composition broke from academic tradition. Art historians often cite this as a turning point toward modern painting.

Édouard Manet painted this Music in the Tuileries in 1862, his first major picture of contemporary Parisian life. The scene shows a fashionable crowd gathered for an outdoor concert in the Tuileries gardens near the Louvre. No musicians are visible. The subject is the social spectacle itself: elegant women in crinolines, top-hatted men, children with hoops.

Manet included himself at the far left, partly cut off by the canvas edge. His brother Eugène wears white trousers in the foreground. Poet Charles Baudelaire stands against a tree. Composer Jacques Offenbach sits nearby. The painting doubles as a group portrait of the artist's social circle, anchored in a specific moment of Second Empire Paris.

When first exhibited in 1863, the thick brushstrokes and modern subject matter outraged viewers. Some threatened to destroy the canvas. Today it hangs at the National Gallery in London, recognized as a landmark in the development of Impressionism. The painting measures 76.2 by 118.1 centimeters.

It's at the National Gallery in London. Édouard Manet painted it in 1862. It's considered one of the earliest paintings of modern Parisian life.

An afternoon concert in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris. The crowd includes fashionably dressed Parisians mingling under the trees. Manet included portraits of real people: the poet Baudelaire, composer Offenbach, and the artist himself (on the far left, partially cut off).

It's one of the first paintings to treat contemporary urban life as a worthy subject for serious art. There's no mythological or historical pretext. It's just people in a park. This directness influenced the Impressionists, who would make everyday life their primary subject.

It measures 76.2 cm × 118.1 cm (30 × 46.5 inches). The loose brushwork and lack of clear focal point frustrated critics who expected polished compositions. The faces blur into a crowd, anticipating the Impressionist approach to capturing atmosphere over detail.

It's proto-Impressionist. Manet painted parts of it outdoors in the gardens, sketching directly from life. The flat, bright colors and cropped composition broke from academic tradition. Art historians often cite this as a turning point toward modern painting.

Music in the Tuileries

Details

Where to See It

The Artist

More by Édouard Manet

Lola de Valence

The barque of Dante (Copy after Delacroix)

Portrait of Monsieur and Madame Auguste Manet

The absinthe drinker

Also at National Gallery

The Piazza San Marco towards the Basilica

The Japanis Bridge (Footbridge over the Water-Lily Pond)

Jesus Christ s Body Carried to the Tomb

Miraculous Draught of Fishes

Related Impressionism Works

Water Lilies (Nymphéas)

Woman with a Parasol

Two Sisters (On the Terrace)

Luncheon of the Boating Party

Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1

Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies

Luncheon of the Boating Party

Water Lilies

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