At the cafe and concert by Manet

Monday with Edouard Manet!

Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD, USA, 1879

In the conservatory by Manet

Monday with Edouard Manet!

The couple are actually Mr. and Madame Jules Guillemet, friends of Manet.

Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1879

The suicide by Manet

Mondays with Edouard Manet! 
This is certainly not your typical "impressionist" work of art. In fact, the Suicide (Le Suicidé), seems to raise more questions than answers: Was this a depiction of a real suicide? If so, who was it and when and where? If not, what on earth possessed Manet to slip into such a morbid world, however briefly?

Bührle Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland, 1877-1881

People on the Piazza del Campo

[June 1999]

Our classes ran until about 1:00pm (13:00 local time) and afterwards we spent a great deal of time hanging out, on, around and through the Piazza del Campo, sipping coffee or wine, but mostly watching people. . . 

Gunther, the clown of the piazza

Gunther on the prowl for his next mark

view of the piazza from the Torre di Mangia

Torre di Mangia

One day we were sitting on the piazza del Campo when a swarm of bees began congregating on one of the stanchions surrounding the piazza. The city fire department (vigili del fuoco) was called along with a resident beekeeper (apparently, note the costume) and eventually the matter was cleared up. Still, it made for quite an exciting afternoon.

note the bees on his helmet

reading the menu