Manet masterpiece given ‘MISOGYNY’ alert over ‘male gaze’ at London’s Courtauld gallery

The Courtauld Gallery has been criticised for introducing a ‘woke’ new label on a Manet masterpiece that warns viewers of the ‘unsettling’ presence of a man.  

The London gallery, which holds the UK’s most prestigious collection of Impressionist paintings, reviewed its labelling as part of a £57million refurbishment. 

Édouard Manet’s 1882 work A Bar at the Folies-Bergère is one of the paintings that has received a new label. 

The work depicts a barmaid at the famous Parisian cabaret club staring at the viewer and a male customer who can be seen in a mirrored image behind her. 

The new information panel both in the gallery and online states that the female subject’s ‘enigmatic expression is unsettling, especially as she appears to be interacting with a male customer’. 

Speaking to The Telegraph, art historian Ruth Millington branded the interpretation a ‘woke attempt to call out misogyny’ which ‘unwittingly centres the male gaze’ by shifting the viewer’s attention to the man.

Another painting that bears a new label is Paul Gauguin’s 1897 work Nevermore. The updated panel says that the painting depicts ‘one of several teenagers that he took on as ‘wives”. 

It then adds that ‘the widespread racist fantasy of Tahitian girls as sexually precocious led to their unabashed exploitation.’

Completed a year before he died, 1882 work Folies-Bergère was Manet’s last major painting. Above: The artist in 1875

Completed a year before he died, Folies-Bergère was Manet’s last major painting.

Whilst the background shows a fashionable mingling crowd, a trapeze artist is seen top left in green boots. 

In front of the barmaid are a series of alcoholic drinks.  

Most of the scene is a reflection in the large gold-framed mirror that hangs behind the barmaid, whose model was a real woman called Suzon who worked at the Folies-Bergère. 

The venue was known to be popular for prostitutes plying their trade and historians have previously suggested that the painting hints at the exploited barmaid’s availability to male customers. 

The painting’s new label adds that the barmaid ‘appears as just another item in the enticing array on offer in the foreground: wine, champagne, peppermint liqueur and British Bass beer, with its iconic red triangle logo.’

The new information panel both in the gallery and online states that the female subject’s ‘enigmatic expression is unsettling, especially as she appears to be interacting with a male customer’

The London gallery, which holds the UK’s most prestigious collection of Impressionist paintings, reviewed its labelling as part of a £57million refurbishment

Ms Millington, who has written a book focusing on the female inspirations in art, said: ‘In a painting of multiple gazes, it’s unfair and misogynistic to emphasise the male perspective. 

‘I’d rather read a fresh new label which invites viewers to imagine what the woman is thinking.’

The new interpretation of French painter Gaugin’s work Nevermore criticises the artist for ‘taking advantage of his position as a European coloniser’. 

Another painting that bears a new label is Paul Gauguin’s 1897 work Nevermore. The updated panel says that the painting depicts ‘one of several teenagers that he took on as ‘wives”

 It then adds that ‘the widespread racist fantasy of Tahitian girls as sexually precocious led to their unabashed exploitation’

The Post-Impressionist artist had a home on the island of Tahiti, which is still an overseas territory of France.  

The gallery’s re-labelling follows the reassessment of other well-known artists at major galleries. 

The Tate Britain’s exhibition on Hogarth was criticised after curators highlighted the ‘sexual violence, anti-Semitism and racism’ in the painter’s works. 

And staff at the National Gallery carried out a three-year audit which linked hundreds of its famous paintings to slavery.   

The Courtauld has been contacted for comment.