Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic and author Sebastian Smee reflects on Édouard Manet’s The house at Rueil, 1882. Painted at the end of Manet’s life, the painting’s lightness and serenity become, in Smee’s view, a final act of defiance and a gesture of hope in the face of despair.
This video has been produced as part of the NGV Observations series – NGV’s annual program of events that invites close examination of the NGV Collection, and unlocks its stories through the eyes of international researchers, curators, and writers.
Observations is generously supported by an anonymous donor.