“The Races at Longchamp”
“The Races at Longchamp” is an oil on canvas painting by the French artist, Édouard Manet, from 1866. During the 1860s, artists were creating many more works of art depicting the leisure activities of Parisians. From the 1850s through 1870s, the sport of horse racing was experiencing a revival. In this painting, Manet captured that cultural moment in history.
In this piece, Manet depicts a horse race at the famed Longchamp track in Paris, France. The Longchamp racecourse opened in 1857, just nine years before this was painted. Located in Bois de Boulogne on the western edges of the city of Paris, it is still in business today.
Manet’s composition and perspective is a quite modern take. The commotion and energy in the painting is almost tangible. Traditional paintings of horse races are depicted from the side. Here, the viewer is directly in front of the oncoming horses. The crowd is a blur, and the fence left of center draws the viewer’s eyes directly into the action. The pole with the circle on top seen at center left marks the end of the race, meaning that Manet is capturing that final moment where the horses and riders are at their most intense.
“The Races at Longchamp” is currently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois, in the United States.
For more on Édouard Manet, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
