MANET, Edouard
(b. 1832, Paris, d. 1883, Paris)

The Reading

1868
Oil on canvas, 61 x 74 cm
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

The painting represents Madame Manet and her son, Leon Koella.

Charming and seductive, Manet loved women rather as he loved flowers, and was always surrounded by willing models. For a while, he contended himself with portraying his wife in various poses, in Reading and in the pastel Madame Manet on a Blue Sofa.