The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 20, 2025

Print in black ink with thick, lines sketching a scene in a café with people sitting at a table in the lower left corner, a figure standing between billiards-like tables behind. On the right, a person in a suit looks at those seated at the table, hands on hips, with another person facing away from us behind them on our right, and another approaching the table of people behind them on our left.

At the Café

1874
(French, 1832–1883)
France, 19th century
gillotage
Image: 26.3 x 33.4 cm (10 3/8 x 13 1/8 in.); Sheet: 26.9 x 36 cm (10 9/16 x 14 3/16 in.)
Gift of the Print Club of Cleveland in honor of its 100th anniversary 2019.57
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

This image appeared in the Belgian journal L’Europe, which was censored by Parisian police. This impression is the only one known to have been saved before the journal was destroyed.

Description

This print by Édouard Manet depicts the Café Guerbois, a gathering place for Impressionist artists in 19th-century Paris. Although best known for his paintings, the artist was an avid printmaker throughout his entire career. Here, he experimented with gillotage—a new technique at the time—to suggest the quick, sketchy lines of drawing, making the image appear as if it had been created quickly and spontaneously.
  • ?-?
    Rouart Collection, Paris, France
    1957
    (sale, Klipstein & Kornfeld, Bern, May 17, 1957)
    1987
    (sale, Christie's, London, December 2, 1987)
    1988
    Graphisches Kabinett Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, Bremen, Germany
    after 1988-by 2017
    Klaus J. Jacobs, Zürich
    2017
    (sale, Kunsthaus Lempertz, Berlin, December 1, 2017)
    after 2017-2019
    (Joel R. Bergquist Fine Arts, Nashville, TN, sold to the Print Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH)
    2019
    Print Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    2019-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Guérin, Marcel. L’Oeuvre de Manet. Paris: Floury, 1944. Reproduced: ill. no. 81
    Harris, Jean C. Edouard Manet: Graphic Works; A Definitive Catalogue Raisonné. New York: Collectors Editions, 1970. Mentioned: pp. 182-83; Reproduced: ill. no. 66
    Fisher, Jay McKean. The Prints of Edouard Manet. Washington, D.C.: The Foundation, 1985. Mentioned: pp. 106-07; Reproduced: ill no. 63
    Den Abbel, Paul van and Juliet Wilson-Bareau. “Manet’s ‘Au Café’ in a Banned Brussels Paper.” Burlington Magazine 131, no. 1033 (April 1989) p. 283-88
    Salsbury, Britany. “Acquisitions 2019: Prints.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 60, no. 2 (March/April 2020): 22-23. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 22.
  • {{cite web|title=At the Café|url=false|author=Edouard Manet|year=1874|access-date=20 June 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.57