Two paintings by Manet of 1878 that began as a single composition have been reunited for the first time

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Caption: sum of two units paintings by Manet of 1878 that began as a single composition have been reunited for the first time. London's National Gallery has lent its Coin de cafe-concert (right) to an exhibition at the Oskar Reinhart Collection, Winterthur, Switzerland, where it joins Au cafe (middle). The history of the painting has been elucidated by the agency of Juliet Wilson-Bareau and Malcolm Park, with the aid of x-rays and a freshly identified preparatory drawing. The original canvas, as theoretically re-established on the left, was entitled Reichshoffen, the name of the Paris cafe depicted. It exhibits patrons and a waitress around a table, which tend to the same points onto a singer in the midmost point of the middle ground, who is visible in the preparatory drawing. Manet, apparently dissatisfied, then remov the singer, and the table was repositioned. Finally, he divided the canvas, at which point Coin de cafe-concert was given a fresh performer in the distant background. While Manet's reasons for dissatisfaction are a matter of speculation, it is notable that the original composition is relatively unified whereas the pair divided works show a taste for awkward, photograph-like cropping reminiscent of for instance, The Bar at the Folies-Bergere (1881-82); the composition of Coin de cafe-concert also anticipates closely The Waitress (1879 Musee d'Orsay). The acts of trust of the Reinhart Collection forbid the loan of works, on the other hand this exhibition marks a of recent origin raising of the profile of the institution. 'Manet propers Manet: Two canvases cut' make opened at the Oskar Reinhart Collection upon 24 September and continues until 29 January 2006

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