Lot 38: CHARLES LENOIR

REVERIE
signed and dated C.A. Lenoir / 1893 upper right

120 by 143cm., 47¼ by 56¼in.

oil on canvas

Paris, Salon de la société des artistes français, 1893, no. 1104, illustrated in the catalogue

In this moonlit vignette of bohemian life, in its original frame, two lovers stand by the window of their Parisian garret overlooking the city, calling to mind Rodolfe and Mimi in Henri Murger's Scènes de la vie bohème, published in 1851 and the inspiration for Puccini's eponymous opera. The man wears the smock and loose black satin tie often worn by painters at the time, evoking the proverbial penniless artist living in a humble apartment or atelier mansardé, in search of public recognition, fame and fortune.

The nocturnal shade of blue-green pervading the composition is evocative of the colour of absinthe, a fashionable drink in the bohemian quarters of Paris at the end of the nineteenth century. This anise-flavoured spirit inspired numerous painters of the time, most notably Edouard Manet (Le buveur d'absinthe, 1876) and Edgar Degas (l'Absinthe, 1876), but also writers such as Ernest Hemingway and Paul Verlaine.