Manet Seated, Turned to the Left (Manet assis, tourné à gauche)

Manet Seated, Turned to the Left (Manet assis, tourné à gauche) is an intimate portrait created by Edgar Degas in 1861. This early work depicts Degas’s close friend and fellow artist, Édouard Manet, captured in a quiet, contemplative moment. Manet is shown seated, his back angled slightly toward the viewer, turning his head sharply to the left. The composition lends the portrait a sense of immediate, unposed observation, characteristic of the rapid sketches and observational drawings that underpinned Degas’s artistic practice.

The work is an etching printed on wove paper, demonstrating the artist’s early engagement with printmaking. Unlike the heavily worked plates typical of his mature period, this early print reveals a technical directness and economy of line. Degas used the etching needle to define the contours of Manet’s figure, relying on precise, sparse hatching to suggest volume and the texture of the sitter’s clothing. This linear focus highlights the subject’s silhouette and the dramatic turn of his head, concentrating the viewer's attention entirely on the figure.

This print is significant as it captures a critical relationship between two central figures of the French avant-garde, whose artistic dialogues were foundational to the development of modern art. Created during the 1851 to 1875 period, this work precedes the collective emergence of Impressionism, showcasing Degas’s mastery of graphic media before he fully explored his signature themes of ballet and racing.

The sustained quality of Degas’s graphic output is evidenced by the existence of multiple states and impressions of his prints, many of which now reside in major institutional holdings. This particular impression of Manet Seated, Turned to the Left resides in the esteemed collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Like many historic prints in major museum collections, the work is often available for scholarly research, with high-resolution images frequently accessible through public domain resources.