Description
George Moore at the Café is an unfinished oil sketch by Édouard Manet, from 1878 or 1879: the Irish writer George Moore, in a bowler hat, sits at a café table, head propped on his hand, a tall stemmed glass beside him. It is drawn in thin dark brush lines on bare beige canvas, with colour only in the beard and hand. The original, 65.4 x 81.3 cm, belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Our painter paints it by hand in oil on canvas as it is: as a sketch, not a finished colour painting. Choose from 8 landscape sizes from 40 x 31 to 140 x 111 cm or a custom size; before dispatch we send you a photograph of it.
| Title: | George Moore at the Café |
| Other titles: | Au café, ébauche (French sale title, 1884) · Portrait de Moore (title at the Salon d’automne, 1905) |
| Painter: | Édouard Manet (1832–1883) |
| Year painted: | 1878 or 1879 |
| Original size: | 65.4 cm x 81.3 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Realism and Impressionism |
| Located at: | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
George Moore at the Café – Édouard Manet
What does George Moore at the Café show?
In the middle of the canvas sits a man with a reddish beard and moustache and a bowler hat. Elbow on the table, he rests his head on his hand and looks off to the right, past us, lost in thought. His other hand lies on the table edge, and on the right stands a tall, slender stemmed glass.
Nothing here is finished. Manet outlined figure, hat, jacket and table in a few lines of thinned blue-black paint and left the rest as bare, pale beige canvas. Only the beard and hair carry warm reddish-brown strokes, the hand a little pink, the necktie a few greenish touches.
At the bottom one long line marks the table edge, a dark patch below hints at a leg, and there is no background.
Who was George Moore, and where did he meet Manet?
George Moore (1852–1933) was an Irish novelist and critic who lived in Paris in the 1870s. According to the Metropolitan Museum, he and Manet probably met at the Café de la Nouvelle-Athènes on the Place Pigalle, a meeting place for artists and writers, and that is where this scene is set.
Manet portrayed Moore three times. In 1929 Gillet called this canvas the earliest of the three portraits, and the Met also holds a pastel of Moore by Manet from 1879.
Anne Coffin Hanson observed that Manet treats Moore less as a formal sitter than as a figure in a scene of modern life.
Why is an unfinished sketch so highly valued?
According to Moreau-Nélaton, writing in 1926, Manet was dissatisfied with the sketch and abandoned it. In the sale of his estate in 1884 it was catalogued as an “ébauche”, a first lay-in.
That is what makes it precious. Hanson called it the most thinly painted of Manet’s unfinished canvases, yet a whole work of art in its own right and a record of how he worked; Boime linked its technique to his teacher Thomas Couture.
It has been exhibited in Paris in 1905 and 1932, at the 1983 retrospective in Paris and New York, at the Met Breuer in 2016 and in Manet / Degas in 2023 and 2024.
Édouard Manet (1832–1883) was among the first painters of modern life and a pivotal figure between Realism and Impressionism. The Wikipedia article about the painter, in English, tells his story, as this painting has no article of its own.
Where is the original, and who has owned it?
The original, oil on canvas, 65.4 x 81.3 cm (height x width), belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, accession number 55.193; the museum does not lend it and does not always show it.
After Manet’s death the canvas was sold at auction in 1884 and passed to the composer Emmanuel Chabrier, then to Paul A. Chéramy, Ambroise Vollard, Albert S. Henraux and Walter Feilchenfeldt. Mary Elizabeth Borden Hines acquired it through Knoedler in 1954 and gave it to the Met in 1955.
George Moore at the Café or another Manet?
This is a canvas painting for lovers of drawing, for anyone curious about how Manet started a picture, and for calm, sparse rooms where one line on a pale ground is enough: a home office, a library, a reading corner.
If you want colour and light, look at Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil, where a woman and a small child watch sailing boats on the river, or The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil, with Camille and her son Jean on the lawn and Monet at his flower bed. A quieter portrait is Madame Manet in the Conservatory, Manet’s wife in grey silk before a wall of green, while The Execution of Emperor Maximilian shows a firing squad before a high grey wall.
More famous Manet paintings, all painted to order, are gathered on our Édouard Manet page.
How do we hand-paint George Moore at the Café?
Manet’s original is oil on canvas with almost no colour: most of it is bare canvas. Ours is an oil painting reproduction worked by hand in oil on canvas, in the size you choose, keeping exactly that character. We do not finish it or colour it in, since that would destroy what makes it special.
The painter matches the pale beige of the bare canvas as it looks in the original. Then, in thinned dark paint, he draws the hat, face, jacket, table and glass, keeping the broad, quick marks on the jacket broad and the fine, soft strokes of the face fine. The few warm touches in the beard and hand come last.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 40 x 31 or 50 x 40 cm for a shelf or a narrow wall, 55 x 46 and 69 x 58 cm above a desk or in a hallway, 80 x 63 and 100 x 79 cm above a chest of drawers or a sofa, and 110 x 90 or 140 x 111 cm for a large, empty wall.
We paint it in 8 landscape sizes (width x height): 40 x 31, 50 x 40, 55 x 46, 69 x 58, 80 x 63, 100 x 79, 110 x 90 and 140 x 111 cm. The original measures 81.3 x 65.4 cm (width x height), so all five sizes up to 80 x 63 cm are smaller, with 80 x 63 cm almost the same, while 100 x 79, 110 x 90 and 140 x 111 cm are larger than the original.
As a painting for the living room it works best at 100 x 79 or 110 x 90 cm above the sofa, where the pale ground calms the wall.
Can I have another size or a frame?
Yes. For other proportions we keep the figure, hat and glass whole and adjust only the empty canvas around them. Tell us the size you need and we will quote a price and a delivery date for your sketch.
The sketch ships rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed; our workshop in Slovenia stretches and frames it. The moulding is chosen in our 3D app, which serves for the frame only; viewing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
A thin pale-wood moulding or a plain black frame suits the sketch; heavy gilt would swamp it.
When will my painting arrive?
Work on your sketch begins once you confirm the order, and it is ready to leave within 15 to 45 working days. You get a photograph of the finished painting before we pack it, and we correct anything you point out.
Shipping within Slovenia and the EU carries no customs duties, and our returns policy covers the order.
A sketch of a writer at his café table is a fine present for a book lover. Not sure which wall it will hang on? A wall art voucher lets them pick the size for this sketch themselves.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original?
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, accession number 55.193; it is not always on display.
Who is the man in the sketch?
The Irish novelist and critic George Moore, who lived in Paris in the 1870s.
Is this a print?
No. Our painter draws every line with a brush, so it is a hand-painted copy in oil on canvas.
Will my painting be finished and coloured in?
No. We keep the look of the original: dark lines on a pale ground and just a few warm accents.
Why did Manet leave it unfinished?
According to Moreau-Nélaton, he was dissatisfied with the sketch and abandoned it.
How large is the original?
It measures 65.4 x 81.3 cm (height x width); our 100 x 79, 110 x 90 and 140 x 111 cm sizes are larger.
How long does it take?
Between 15 and 45 working days; you see it in a photograph before it ships.
Is the sketch right for a bedroom, or as a present?
Yes. Its pale ground and few colours keep a bedroom calm, and as a gift it pleases any book lover.
- Subject: George Moore in a bowler hat at a café table, head on his hand, a tall glass beside him.
- Original: unfinished oil sketch on canvas, 1878 or 1879, 65.4 x 81.3 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
- Ours: an Édouard Manet reproduction hand-painted as a sketch in oil on canvas; 8 sizes from 40 x 31 to 140 x 111 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: after Manet’s death its first owner was the composer Emmanuel Chabrier.
