Woman before a Mirror

A broad pale back occupies the centre of Édouard Manet's Woman Before a Mirror. Above it, blond hair coils beneath the arch of a large mirror. Below, a blue corset narrows the waist before opening onto a white petticoat. The woman turns away, adjusting her clothing amid loosely painted reflections and drapery. The Guggenheim Museum calls the picture Before the Mirror and dates it to 1876.^[1]

The Back and the Blond Chignon

The exposed back creates the painting's largest continuous light shape. It spreads from the narrow nape across the shoulders, then meets the angled blue edges of the corset. One shoulder descends towards the left; the other leads into the bent arm at the right. Their unequal contours give the figure a slight turn within the upright canvas.

Manet varies the edges of this pale area. Small light strokes break into the surrounding blue and grey, while warmer touches run along the arm. Across the centre of the back, pink and yellowish passages are softer and more widely spread. The differences let the body remain substantial even where its boundary becomes difficult to follow precisely.

The hair is more tightly gathered. Curving yellow, brown and greenish marks describe a rounded chignon, with smaller loops below it near the neck. These concentric strokes differ from the longer, straighter marks around the shoulders. The head sits just inside the mirror's upper arc, making a compact arrangement of curves above the broad back.

Blue Corset and Pale Laces

The corset supplies a firmer structure in the lower half of the figure. Blue strips lean inwards from either side towards the waist. Darker diagonals accent its edges, while pale horizontal marks cross the opening at the back. The narrow laces make a small ladder of light within the larger blue shape.

Below the waist, the garment flares out again. Its lower edge projects over the petticoat, with short blue strokes meeting longer white folds. The change in direction separates the fitted upper garment from the fuller skirt. Small patches of pink and cream interrupt the white, keeping this lower area from becoming an empty block of light.

At the right, the arm descends beside the mirror frame. A darker stroke follows its outer edge, and pink curves mark the bend near the elbow. Lower down, the hand appears beside fine pale ties. The gesture connects the body to the clothing without making every finger equally distinct.

The woman adjusts her corset with her face largely withheld. Attention rests on hand, waist and shoulder, and on the different ways Manet has marked those parts of the figure.

An Indistinct Reflection

The mirror is almost as prominent as the woman. Its curved top enters from the left edge and sweeps over the hair before turning down beside the right arm. Red-brown passages give the frame weight, while short gold-coloured touches catch its inner and outer edges. This darker band holds its shape among much paler surrounding strokes.

Within the glass, vertical blue-grey marks descend behind the head and shoulders. At the left, pale and reddish forms suggest the reflected figure, but they do not assemble into a clearly described face. The back remains more directly available to view than the front. The mirror offers another part of the scene while leaving much of it uncertain.

Its frame also changes character along its length. Near the top, the broad arc is broken by small lights. At the right, a more upright section includes diagonal strokes and a narrow projecting edge. The structure gives the bent arm a close, dark neighbour. Light skin, warm frame and pale hanging fabric occupy three adjacent strips near the picture's right side.

The curve continues behind the woman rather than enclosing her completely. Her skirt extends below the visible mirror, and her shoulders overlap its interior. These interruptions keep the mirror from functioning as a separate picture neatly contained within the larger one.

Brushwork across Figure and Room

Similar kinds of marks recur across very different objects. White dashes describe petticoat folds, lights on the corset and passages of the drapery. Blue strokes appear in the fitted garment, the glass and the hanging forms at the right. Their recurrence links the body to the surrounding room without dissolving all distinctions between them.

The background above the shoulders is particularly broken. Green, brown and pale touches cluster beside the mirror and around the upper right corner. Some make a repeated pattern; others remain isolated patches. Against them, the comparatively broad expanse of the back offers a pause before the eye returns to smaller strokes.

At the bottom right, darker green and reddish marks gather beside the hand. They contrast with the long pale strokes of the skirt immediately to their left. Across this short distance, Manet moves between a few extended lines and a much denser accumulation of colour.

Why Is the Date Sometimes Given as 1877?

The Guggenheim retains the date 1876, but Emily A. Beeny argues for autumn 1877. Her account draws on an undated letter from Edmond Duranty to Émile Zola, reporting Marcellin Desboutin's visit to Manet's studio, together with the chronology of the Manet family's stay at Montgeron.^[3]

Beeny also challenges the familiar description of Before the Mirror as a study for Nana. She understands it as a separate experiment in painting rather than a preliminary step towards the more fully defined picture.^[3] The distinction allows the two works to be compared without assuming that one was simply made in preparation for the other.

Another Mirror in Nana

In Nana, dated 1877 and now in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the woman turns towards the viewer beside a smaller standing mirror. That canvas measures 154 × 115 cm.^[4]

The shared blue corset and white petticoat make the differences in presentation especially clear. Nana's face is fully exposed, with the eyes directed out of the picture. Her raised hands display the objects of her toilette. The small mirror stands to the left, allowing the head and upper body to remain largely unobstructed.

A cropped man in a top hat occupies the right edge of Nana. Behind the woman, the sofa's curved gold-coloured edge and red upholstery establish a substantial piece of furniture. The setting contains more clearly separated objects and a second person. In Before the Mirror, the close view concentrates on one figure and the large reflective surface immediately before her.

The two mirrors have different roles in the compositions. Nana's small glass tilts within the space, supported on a narrow dark stand. The Guggenheim painting's much larger frame forms an arch around the head and shoulders. Looking from one picture to the other brings out how a familiar dressing-room motif can produce two quite different arrangements of figure, reflection and spectator.

Exhibition and Collection

Manet exhibited Before the Mirror in April 1880 at the galleries of La Vie Moderne. Carol Armstrong places it in that exhibition alongside the pastel Woman Fixing Her Garter.^[5] The 1975 catalogue raisonné lists the mirror painting as number 8 in the show.^[2]

The painting subsequently appeared in the posthumous sale of Manet's works in 1884, where Dr Robin acquired it as lot 43.^[2] Its later history brought it into Justin K. Thannhauser's collection. The Guggenheim records the work as part of his 1978 gift.^[1]