One of the best-known and most valuable Impressionist paintings goes on show in the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art from today for two months.
Edgar Degas's L'Absinthe, valued at £23 million, arrived in Dublin last night from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. The Musee is borrowing Manet's portrait of Eva Gonzales from the Hugh Lane Gallery for the same period.
This is the first time the Musee d'Orsay has sent a picture to Ireland. According to Ms Christina Kennedy, head of exhibitions at the Hugh Lane Gallery,"This is a unique opportunity for the Irish public to view such a world-famous work here. We're hoping it will be the start of further exchanges with the Musee d'Orsay."
Originally called Dans Un Cafe, the Degas painting caused a sensation when first exhibited in Brighton in 1876. This was because it was seen to reflect the pervasiveness of alcoholism among the Parisian working classes. Absinthe, a popular drink of the time, was blamed for this problem, and the artist's direct depiction of its impact excited a great deal of comment. In fact, the seemingly impoverished couple shown in the picture were friends of Degas, the pipesmoker being a fellow artist Marcellin Desboutin and the woman beside him an actress called Ellen Andree, who had also posed for other Impressionist painters, including Manet and Renoir.
Regarded as one of the beauties of the day, she was understandably upset by Degas's depiction of her as a slumped and dejected alcoholic. Complaining that she had been "massacred" by the artist, she was also unhappy that he had placed the glass of absinthe in front of her, rather than Desboutin. As in many of Degas's finest works, the protagonists are observed from an oblique angle, as though momentarily spotted by a someone in transit.
The picture was eventually acquired by Count Isaac de Camondo, who bequeathed it to the French state in 1911.