Édouard Manet – Woman Reading

Woman Reading is a late work by Édouard Manet, painted between 1880 and 1882: a young woman with reddish-blond hair, in a black coat, a big black hat and pale gloves, holds an open illustrated paper in front of her, while a green garden with red flowers glows behind. The original is oil on canvas, 61.2 x 50.7 cm, and it belongs to the Art Institute of Chicago. Our painter paints it for you by hand in oil on canvas, in 8 portrait sizes from 33 x 42 to 148 x 180 cm, or made to measure. Before it travels to you, you receive a photograph of it.

Woman Reading – Édouard Manet

What does Woman Reading show?

A young woman in a black coat sits in the right half of the canvas. She wears a large black hat with a feather, and a reddish-blond fringe falls onto her forehead beneath it. Her cheeks are pink, her lips red, and round her neck lies a white lace fichu that turns grey in the shadow.

In her pale-gloved hands she holds an open paper fixed to a wooden stick. Its big pages, with sketchy grey pictures, fill most of the left half. A glass of beer stands at the lower left, and Manet signed his name in dark blue on the edge of the table.

Behind her stretches a bright, lush green garden with red flowers; a dark flag hangs at the top right, and a patch of blue spreads behind her head.

What does the café scene mean?

The scene is set in a Paris café, the woman dressed for the street. The title we use today is the one Manet wrote in his account book; before that the work was known as Le journal illustré, the illustrated newspaper.

The illustrated paper may have been a fashion magazine. Gloves and reading suggest a lady, yet in Paris paintings of the time beer could hint at a less respectable standing, so some see a woman quietly watching the room over her paper, others simply a reader lost in it.

One view calls it an open-ended story that raises more questions than it answers, leaving each viewer to decide whether she is reading or watching.

Why is Woman Reading so admired?

Its painter, Édouard Manet (1832–1883), was among the first artists of his century to turn to modern life, and he bridges Realism and Impressionism. This canvas belongs to his last years; the Légion d’honneur came in 1881.

In form it is a classic Impressionist work: the colours are vivid, the strokes brief and quick, and Manet kept detail for the face alone. He laid in the paper and the fichu with a thin grey wash, and the face is mostly the bare off-white ground of the canvas. Faint charcoal marks show beneath her features.

The passing moment outdoors is in fact constructed. The background is Manet’s own The Watering Can (1880), reused, and the blue behind her head was once that can. He added the marble table and the beer afterwards to suggest a Paris café, and summer leaves behind a winter coat give the trick away. The Wikipedia article on the painting, written in English, tells the story in more detail.

Where is the original, and how did it reach Chicago?

The original, oil on canvas measuring 61.2 x 50.7 cm (height x width), belongs to the Art Institute of Chicago under accession number 1933.435 and hangs in Gallery 201.

Manet sold it to Jean-Baptiste Faure in 1882, and it stayed with the Faure family until about 1928. Soon afterwards it crossed to the United States, where the Howard Young Galleries sold it to the collector Lewis Coburn in 1929, still under the old title Le journal illustré. Mrs Coburn bequeathed it to the Chicago museum in 1933.

As early as January 1884, a year after the painter died, it hung in the Paris exhibition of his work, and later it travelled to shows from Pittsburgh to Tokyo.

Woman Reading or another Manet?

This canvas painting suits anyone who loves city life, café terraces and quiet moments with a paper in hand, and its upright format sits well beside a reading chair.

If you like Manet watching women in everyday moments, look at The Reading, where Suzanne Leenhoff in white muslin sits on a white sofa while her son Léon reads to her, or Madame Manet at the Piano, which shows her in profile at an upright piano. For a different note there is Boy Carrying a Sword, a boy dressed as a seventeenth-century Spanish page, and Vase of Peonies, a bunch of pink, white and dusky-red blooms in a tall porcelain vase.

The whole range of famous Manet paintings we copy, from still lifes to Paris scenes, is on the Édouard Manet page.

How do we hand-paint Woman Reading?

Manet’s original is oil on canvas, but small: just 61.2 cm high. Ours is an oil painting reproduction on fresh canvas, which the painter works in oil on canvas, in the size you choose and layer by layer.

He first places the dark shape of hat and coat and the large rectangle of the paper, which carry the composition. Next he builds the garden in dense green and red strokes, and last the pink-cheeked face, the gloves and the fichu, keeping the paper as thin and sketchy as Manet left it.

Which size fits which wall?

In short: 33 x 42 or 43 x 53 cm for a shelf or a narrow wall, 48 x 60 and 64 x 76 cm above a chest of drawers or a desk, 80 x 96 and 99 x 125 cm above a sofa, and 114 x 146 or 148 x 180 cm for a tall wall at home or in a café.

We paint it in 8 portrait sizes (width x height): 33 x 42, 43 x 53, 48 x 60, 64 x 76, 80 x 96, 99 x 125, 114 x 146 and 148 x 180 cm. The original measures 50.7 x 61.2 cm (width x height), so 33 x 42 and 43 x 53 cm are smaller than it, 48 x 60 cm comes very close, and all five sizes from 64 x 76 cm upwards enlarge it.

As a painting for the living room it looks its best at 80 x 96 or 99 x 125 cm, where the green garden and the black hat carry from the doorway.

Can I have a different size or a frame?

Yes. If your wall needs other proportions, we keep the woman, the hat and the paper whole and adjust only the edge of the garden. Send us the size you have in mind, and we reply with a price and a delivery date.

Your reader leaves us rolled, on a stretcher bar or in a frame, and our Slovenian workshop handles both stretching and framing. The moulding for your reader is picked in our 3D app, built for choosing frames alone, while a view of the painting on your own wall is a separate service. Slim black echoes the hat; warm gold lifts the gloves and red flowers.

When will Woman Reading arrive?

The painter begins as soon as you confirm your order, and the painting is ready to ship within 15 to 45 working days. Before we pack it, we email you a photograph of the finished work and adjust it further if you wish.

Within Slovenia and across the EU it travels without customs duties, and our returns policy covers every order.

It makes a lovely gift for keen readers, lovers of Paris and anyone who lingers in cafés. If you do not know the wall, a wall art voucher leaves the size to the person who receives it.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I see the original?

At the Art Institute of Chicago, in Gallery 201, under accession number 1933.435.

What is the woman reading?

An open illustrated paper on a wooden stick; it may have been a fashion magazine.

Is this a print?

No, it is a hand-painted copy; our painter works it with brushes in oil on canvas.

How big is the original?

It measures 61.2 x 50.7 cm (height x width); all five of our sizes from 64 x 76 cm upwards are larger.

Could I have the reader in an unlisted size?

Yes. Tell us the width and height you need, and we will send you a price and a production time.

How long does it take to make?

From 15 to 45 working days, and before shipping you see the finished painting in a photograph.

Would the reader suit a bedroom or make a good present?

Yes: the calm scene suits a bedroom, and any bookworm will welcome it.

Why is the face so pale?

Because it is mostly the bare light ground of the canvas, with faint charcoal marks showing through.

• Subject: a young woman in a black coat and hat reads an illustrated paper, a green garden with red flowers behind her.
• Original: oil on canvas, 1880–1882, 61.2 x 50.7 cm, Art Institute of Chicago.
• Ours: an Édouard Manet reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, 8 sizes from 33 x 42 to 148 x 180 cm, or made to measure.
• Worth knowing: the background is a Manet painting of 1880; the table and the beer were added later.