The Bistro (c. 1895): Art, History and Details

The Bistro (c. 1895) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Félix Vallotton (Swiss French, 1865–1925).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The hustle and bustle of eager customers in a crowded bistro is captured in this painting. One can almost hear the loud chatter and shouts of orders being called to the busy servers behind the countertop. All in jackets, the men by the bar have rosy cheeks and noses, perhaps from the cold outdoors contrasting the warmth of their drinks.

Object facts

• Title: The Bistro
• Date: c. 1895
• Creator attribution: Félix Vallotton (Swiss French, 1865–1925)
• Culture: France
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Unframed: 22.2 x 27 cm (8 3/4 x 10 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 2020.114

A detail from the museum

Vallotton is sometimes referred to as a "forgotten" master painter, as his work as a printmaker, designer, art critic, novelist, and playwright detracted from his primary passion of painting.

Collection credit

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift

Further reading listed by the museum

• Félix Vallotton: Ausstellung, Kunsthaus Zürich, vom 11. November - 14. Dezember [1938] : Katalog mit Einführung, 24 Abbildungen und Werkverzeeichnis 1885-1925. [Zürich]: [Kunsthaus], 1938. Published as: Bar
• Kunsthalle Basel. Ausstellung Félix Vallotton, 23. Januar bis 24. Februar 1957. Basel: 1957.
• Félix Vallotton: [Ausstellung] vom 10. April bis 30. Mai, 1965. Zürich: Kunsthaus Zürich, 1965.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.