Eva Gonzalès
- Artist: Edouard Manet
- Date: 1870
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is the "Eva Gonzalès" by Edouard Manet. Painted in 1870, it's a portrait of his only formal pupil, Eva Gonzalès. The painting shows Gonzalès at her easel, painting a flower piece after an etching by Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer.
Notice the white dress she's wearing - it fills the composition and becomes a source of illumination in its own right. This is reminiscent of eighteenth-century self-portraits by women, where they'd show themselves at their easels, dressed in beautiful gowns that attest to their success.
The brushstrokes are fluid, recalling those used in eighteenth-century portraiture. And if you look closely, you'll see a half-rolled print with Manet's signature on the floor - a reminder of his role as her teacher.
Interestingly, this painting is unusual because it shows Gonzalès actually painting at her easel, rather than just being portrayed as a contemporary bourgeois woman.
See it in person
Eva Gonzalès hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
