A Bar At The Folies-Bergère
painting of a man enjoying a painting by Edouard Manet
G. Boersma
acrylic on panel
120 x 74 cm | 47.2 x 29 in
2025
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I love to bridge the gap between art history and contemporary life, capturing the timeless ways we interact with iconic masterpieces. This painting, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, shows a modern museum visitor using his smartphone to snap a picture of Édouard Manet's legendary final masterpiece.
Manet’s original work is famous for its complex perspective, the melancholic gaze of the barmaid, and its vivid depiction of 19th-century Parisian nightlife. By placing a modern observer in front of it, I wanted to explore how those distant emotions still speak to us today.
Manet used a deceptive mirror to complicate what the viewer sees, and by layering a modern phone screen onto that space, this painting adds a new dimension to his original puzzle.
Here, the modern smartphone user essentially steps right into the frame, taking the place of the unknown gentleman who is famously seen only in the reflection behind the barmaid. It turns a routine museum visit into a compelling visual dialogue about perception, perspective, and how we view both history and ourselves in the digital age.
All the best, Gerard
