Civil War
1871–73, published 1874
Medium
Lithograph on chine collé; second state of two
Dimensions
Image: 15 5/8 × 20 in. (39.7 × 50.8 cm) Sheet: 19 1/8 × 24 3/4 in. (48.6 × 62.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1922
Accession Number
22.60.18
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the turbulent aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune of 1871, Édouard Manet created *Civil War* (1871–73, published 1874), a stark lithograph capturing the brutal reality of urban conflict. This print depicts a barricade strewn with fallen bodies during the "Bloody Week," when government forces crushed the short-lived Commune uprising. Manet, a politically engaged artist and precursor to Impressionism, used his realist style—marked by bold contrasts and unflinching detail—to bear witness to the violence, echoing Goya's war etchings while addressing contemporary French so...
About the Artist
Lemercier & Cie.|Edouard Manet|Lemercier & Cie. (French|French|French) · 1832 | | –1883 | |
French, Paris 1832–1883 Paris|French, Paris|French, Paris