ABSTRACT
The painter of city life is perhaps Eduard Manet, whose city paintings are full of desire for connection and engagement. Hence urban sociology recognizes Manet as an ‘artist of displacements’ (Sennett 1996: 173). Displacing the familiar frames of reference and, stimulating engagement, his paintings deconstruct one’s perception of oneself and the outer world. In this sense displacement is a fundamental experience of city life. In The Bar at the Folies Bergère, for instance, it is optically impossible to be facing the barmaid directly and seeing her reflection to the right of her at the same time. In the upper right corner of the painting, reflected in the mirror, we see a man the barmaid is looking at. This man cannot exist optically either; if he did, he would completely block out our direct view of the barmaid – the viewer is standing in front of the barmaid. The drama depicted in the painting is thus: ‘I look in the mirror and see someone who is not myself’ (ibid.: 177). The city allows you to become yourself by making a stranger of you.
