One of the most famous of his works – “Absinthe” Edgar Degas wrote in 1893, initially calling it “People in a cafe.”
In the painting, the artist depicted two people – a man and a woman sitting at a cafe table. It is noticeable that the woman is pretty drunk, while the man is absolutely sober. With these people, Degas was familiar in real life, a depicted woman – a popular actress at the time, presenting to the audience not on the stage, but during the rest.
Before the woman on the table is a glass, in which absinth is poured. By its appearance, it is noticeable that she drank pretty much already, as her pose also says: a little elongated, relaxed legs, a stooped figure with lowered shoulders, the face reads indifference to the surrounding environment. A man sitting at the same table in a cafe, in some way opposed to a woman: in front of him on the table is a glass, in which there is a remedy for a hangover syndrome: mazagran. His gaze is directed to the side, his eyes are filled with blood.
The situation, recorded by Degas in the picture “Absinthe”, occurs in the morning. The furnishings are complemented by a few interior items: a decanter with water to dilute absinthe, a newspaper for visitors to a cafe, a specially cut mirror on the wall, in which the window into which the morning light penetrates.
The composition of the picture is unusual for the works of that time, Degas somehow became an innovator. A certain photographic work is combined with the displacement of its characters, which creates the effect of some fleetingness and randomness of what is happening. Edgar Degas wanted to show the distance of even familiar people from each other in contemporary Paris. The painting “Absinthe” is a real masterpiece, the artist tried to show the spectators the effect produced by absinthe: displacement and even distortion of the surrounding reality.
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