Sofitel Sydney splashback

We printed this under license from the Courtald Gallery in London and the installation was completed at the Sofitel Hotel in Sydney.

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère

A Bar at the Folies-Bergèrewas the last major work from Édouard Manet, completed shortly before his death in 1883. Though he was quite ill at the time, suffering from the agonizing complications of syphilis, he created a bustling and complicated scene. We stand facing a young bartender working at the popular Parisian cabaret, her world-weary gaze leveled at us in the detached manner universally familiar to those who have been over-worked and under-paid. At first glance the throng of cabaret patrons appears to be behind her, but the barmaids reflection on the right reveals that we are actually looking at a mirror. The bartender is the one facing the bourgeois crowd, which we are in fact a part of, and she has clearly seen too many nights like this.