Édouard ManetFrench, 1832–1883Woman Reading
Can I see it?
Yes, on view now
Where is “Woman Reading” now? Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 201, Chicago. Yes, on view now. Checked September 29, 2026.
Chicago, United States
Closed· opens at 11:00 AM
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Woman Reading is a oil on canvas painting created by Édouard Manet. It was painted between 1880 and 1882. As of 2025 it is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, its dimensions are 61.2 × 50.7 cm and framed, 83.2 × 73.1 × 9.9 cm. The title commonly used for the painting is how Manet referred to the work in his account book, the artwork has previously been known as Le journal illustré (The illustrated newspaper).
In the museum's words
During the late nineteenth century, Parisian cafés were the gathering places of artists and writers and were ideal locations for observing the urban scene. Many Impressionist paintings depict the Café Nouvelle-Athènes on the rue Pigalle, where two tables were reserved for Édouard Manet and his circle—a group that included the painters Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and the writers Charles Baudelaire and Émile Zola.
At first glance, this fashionably dressed young woman appears to have been captured sitting at a favorite café: the marble tabletop, beer mug, and magazine attached to a wooden bar suggest such a setting, and her heavy clothing and kid gloves indicate that she is at an outdoor table and that the weather is cool. However, the floral background is actually one of Manet's paintings and the café a re-creation in his studio.
Read on
Woman Reading is one of the most Impressionist of Manet’s images; the quick, free brushstrokes and light colors are characteristic of his technique late in his career. Painted only a few years before his death, this work admirably captures a fleeting moment, the sense of modern life that Manet and his contemporaries sought to represent.
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
Details
- Accession number
- 1933.435
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image: Art Institute of Chicago — CC0
In the life of Édouard Manet
The whole life1879 · Residence
8th arrondissement of Paris
1879
The Salon warmly receives “In the Conservatory” and “In the Boat”
Only in 1879 did the Salon appreciate Manet's perseverance: his canvases “In the Conservatory” and “In the Boat” were received very warmly.
September 1879
The first attack of rheumatism and ataxia
In September 1879 Manet suffered his first acute attack of rheumatism; it soon turned out that he had ataxia, a disorder of movement coordination. The illness progressed rapidly and limited his creative possibilities.
December 1881
The Légion d'honneur
In December 1881, at the recommendation of Antonin Proust, his childhood friend and the new minister, Manet was awarded the Légion d'honneur.
19 – 30 April 1883
An amputation and death eleven days later
On 19 April 1883 Manet underwent a very severe operation, the amputation of his left leg; eleven days later, on 30 April, despite the first signs of apparent recovery, he died in terrible agony.
30 April 1883
Died
