El cantante español

A guitarist sits on a bench, head tilted, mid-song. The painting was hung high at the Salon of 1861, but visitors loved it so much it was brought down to eye level.

The story behind the painting

Édouard Manet painted The Spanish Singer, also called Guitarrero, in 1860. It was composed in his studio with a model and props he later reused. With it Manet was accepted at the Paris Salon for the first time, in 1861, where he also showed a portrait of his parents. The model's identity is debated: Adolphe Tabarant suggested the scene was inspired by the Andalusian guitarist Trinidad Huerta and used a model from Seville, while others name a musician known as Bosch. The painting shows the influence of Spanish art, especially Diego Velázquez.

What to look for

The canvas, about 147 by 114 cm, shows a life-sized guitarist seated on a bench, playing. Look at the details around him: a simple bench, an onion on the floor, the angle of the guitar. Despite the title, his clothing is not truly Spanish; Manet staged the scene with a mix of costume he had on hand. Théophile Gautier identified the jacket as a type from Marseilles and joked that the figure looked more like a guitarrero from Montmartre. Gautier praised the very true colour and vigorous brush, and the bold brushwork is still the first thing you notice.

Meaning and intent

The painting is both realistic and exotic. It answered the era's taste for Spanish culture, yet its everyday props and studio costume quietly admit that this is Paris dressing up. Gautier wrote that he could almost hear the singer. That sense of a living sound, caught in a single seated figure, is what made the work so immediate. It also marked a turning point for Manet himself, linking his ambitions to the Spanish masters he admired.

Legacy

Critics including Charles Baudelaire and Gautier admired the picture, and Manet became a leader of the avant-garde. Young artists such as Henri Fantin-Latour and Carolus-Duran came to visit his studio. After its success Manet made other versions, including a watercolour now in the Dallas Museum of Art and an etching of 1861 to 1862 printed by Auguste Delâtre, likely prompted by his friend Antonin Proust, who owned the oil. The painting has been at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 1949.