The Races at Longchamp

CC0 Public Domain Designation

1866

Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883)

This freely executed painting captures the thrilling conclusion of a horse race at Longchamp, located at the Bois de Boulogne on the western edge of Paris. Here, Édouard Manet radically departed from conventional representations of the sport, in which races were shown from the side with the horses in profile. Instead, the competitors gallop thunderously toward the viewer, raising a cloud of turf, their pace underlined by the sweeping diagonals of the racetrack fences.

In France, horse racing became an important form of popular entertainment during the nineteenth century. Imported from England, the racetrack—with its speed, spectacle, and luxury—was a quintessentially modern space. In Manet’s painting, a throng of fashionably dressed men and women press against the fences to witness the event—one man, at the upper left, uses binoculars to better observe the race.

Unlike his friend Edgar Degas, for whom the racetrack was a constant source of inspiration, Manet produced only two paintings on the theme. Originally a much larger composition, this canvas was cut down to its present scale by the artist.

Status: On View, Gallery 225
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Édouard Manet
Title: The Races at Longchamp
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1866
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right: Manet. / 1866
Dimensions: 44 × 84.2 cm (17 5/16 × 33 1/8 in.); Framed: 69.6 × 109.9 × 10.2 cm (27 3/8 × 43 1/4 × 4 in.)
Credit Line: Potter Palmer Collection
Reference Number: 1922.424
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/81533/manifest.json

Emile Zola, Edouard Manet: Etude biographique et critique (Paris, 1867), p. 39, reprinted in Zola, Mes Haines (Paris, 1928).
Theodore Duret, Historie d’Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre (Paris, 1902), p. 228, no. 142.
Zeitschrift für Bildende Kunst (April 1, 1910), p. 188.
Théodore Duret, Manet and the French Impressionists (Paris, 1910), p. 231, no. 142.
B. Haendcke, “Die historischen Grundlagen der Hell- und Freilichtmalerei,” Die Kunst 12, (January 1, 1911), p. 156 (ill).
Julius Meier-Graefe, Édouard Manet (Munich, 1912), p. 220, fig. 123.
Cicerone (October 1, 1913), p. 680.
Antonin Proust, “Erinnerungen an Édouard Manet,” Kunst und Künstler 11 (1913), p. 211 (ill.).
Jacques Emile Blanche, Quatre-Vingts Ans de peinture libre, 1800-1885 (Paris 1920), no. 17 (ill.)
M.C., “Manets in the Art Institute,” The Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 18 (1924), p. 49 (ill.).
J.-E. Blanche, Manet (Paris, 1925), pp. 41, 46, pl. 26.
Leon Rosenthal, “Manet et l’Espagne,” Gazette des Beaux Arts 12 (1925), pp. 210, 212.
E. Moreau-Nelaton, Manet raconté par lui-même vol. 2 (Paris, 1926), no. 61.
Thédore Duret, Histoire de Édouard Manet et de son oeuvre (Paris, 1926), p. 255, no. 142.
P. Fierens, “Édouard Manet,” L’Art et les Artistes 21 (October 1930), p. 11 (ill.).
A. Tabarant, Manet: Historie catalographique (Paris, 1931), p.136, no. 96.
R. H. Wilenski, French Painting, 1931, p. 245, plate 111a (ill.).
A. Tabarant, “Manet, (á propos de son Centennaire),” Revue de l’Art (Ancien et Moderne) 61 (1932), p. 19 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook to the Collection of the Art Institute (Chicago, 1932), pp. 56 (ill.), 162.
Paul Jamot and Georges Wildenstein, Manet (Paris, 1932), vol. 1, p. 143, no. 202 and vol. 2, p. 178, fig. 358.
Daniel Catton Rich, “The Spanish Background for Manet’s Early Work,” Parnassus, (February 1932), p. 4.
The Art Institute Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago 1936), p. 60 (ill.).
Théodore Duret, Manet, translated by J.E. Crawford Flitch (New York, 1937), pl. 14 (ill.).
Alfred M. Frankfurter, “Manet: First American Retrospective,” The Art News (March 20, 1937), p. 24.
Magazine of Art 30 (1937), pp. 243, 244 (ill.).
A.P. McMahon, “Manet Fifty Years Later” Parnassus 9 (March 1937), p. 9 (ill.).
Alfred M. Frankfurter, “Manet: First American Retrospective,” the Art News (March 20, 1937), pp. 11-14, 24, 11(ill.).
Robert Rey, Manet (Paris, 1938), pp. 120 (ill.), 163, no. 120.
Detroit Institute of Arts Bulletin 19 (1940), p. 88.
G. Jedlicka, Édouard Manet (1941), pp. 163, 166, 403, ill. opp. p. 166.
H. Huth, “Impressionism Comes to America,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts ser. 6, 29 (1946), pp. 237, fig. 12, 242.
A. Tabarant, Manet et ses oeuvres (Paris, 1947), no. 101, pp. 101, 536 (ill.)
Michel Florisoone, Manet (Monaco, 1947), p. 29.
Lionello Venturi, Impressionists and Symbolists (London, 1950), p. 20, fig. 11.
J. Babelon, “La Expaña de Manet y el Manet de España,” Clavilleño 3, 13 (January-February 1952,), pp. 15-20, 16 (ill.).
J. L. Vaudoyer, Edouard Manet (Paris, 1955), pl. 18.
The Art Institute Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago, 1956), p. 60 (ill.).
John Richardson, Manet (London and New York, 1958), no. 25.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute: A Catalogue pf the Picture Collection (Chicago 1961), pp. 268-269, 281 (ill.).
Pierre Courthion, Edouard Manet (New York, 1962), pp. 86-87.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Comments on Selected Paintings in the Collection of The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago 1965), p. 34.
Frederick A. Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 134 (September 1966), pp. 171, 193, 191, fig. 5, 194.
Jean Harris, “Manet’s Race-track Paintings,” The Art Bulletin 48, 1 (March 1966), pp 78-82.
Anne Coffin Hanson, Edouard Manet (1966), pp. 86 cat. 68 (ill.), 87.
Phoebe Pool and Sandra Orienti, The Complete Paintings of Manet (New York, 1967), no. 87 (ill.).
John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (New York, 1970), pp. 26 (ill.), 283.
Karl Berger, Das Tier in der Kunst (Leipzig, 1971), p. 20, no. 37 (ill.).
Alice Bellony- Rewald, The Lost World of Impressionism (London, 1976), p. 186 (ill.).
Benjamin Lowe, The Beauty of Sport: A Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry (New Jersey, 1977), fig. 16a.
Charles F. Stuckey and Naomi Maurer, The Art Institute of Chicago: Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings (Chicago, 1979), p. 59, fig. 1.
Diane Kelder, Great Book of Impressionism (New York, 1980), p. 115 (ill.).
Theodore Reff, Manet and Modern Paris: One Hundred Paintings, Drawings, Prints, and Photographs by Manet and His Contemporaries (Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, 1982), pl. 10, pp. 134, no. 43 (ill.).
Kathleen Adler, Manet (Oxford, 1986), p. 166, fig. 153.
Richard R. Brettell, French Impressionists (Chicago, 1987), pp. 62-65 (ill.), 119.
Robin Spencer, “Manet, Rosseti, London and Derby Days,” Burlington Magazine 134 (April 1991), pp. 228-233, 233 (ill.)
Vivien Perutz, Edouard Manet (London, 1993), p. 142, fig. 104.
Robert Snell, “ Seen Through a Temperament,” Time Literary Supplement (December 15, 2000), p. 16.
Gilles Néret, Edouard Manet 1832-1883: The First of the Moderns (Cologne, 2003), p. 37 (ill.).
The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London, 2008), cat. 7, pp. 36–37 (ill.).
“Manet, Cat. 12, The Races at Longchamp,” in Manet Paintings and Works on Paper at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2017), https://publications.artic.edu/manet/reader/manetart/section/140020.
Renatto Miracco, “Re-Reading De Nittis,” in An Italian Impressionist in Paris: Giuseppe De Nittis, exh. cat. (Washington, DC: The Phillips Collection, 2022), 43, 157 pl. 39, 229.
Laurence des Cars, Stephane Guégan and Isolde Pludermacher, Manet/Degas, exh. cat. (Paris: Musée d’Orsay: Gallimard, 2023), 92-93 cat. 68.
Stephan Wolohojian and Ashley E. Dunn, Manet/Degas, exh. cat. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2023), 200 pl. 101, 297.
James Rondeau, ed., Highlights of the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2026), 117, 261, no. 84, (ill.).

Paris, Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Exposition des Oeuvres de Edouard Manet, January 1884, cat. 61.
New York, Durand-Ruel Galleries, Exposition of Paintings by Edouard Manet, 1895, cat. 27.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition Painting and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1933, cat. 332.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition Painting and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1934, cat. 252.
New York, Wildenstein & Co., Edouard Manet: A Retrospective Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of French Hospitals, March-April, 1937, cat. 18 (ill.).
Cambridge, Mass., The Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University, The Horse: Its Significance in Art, April 20-May 2, 1938, cat. 14 (ill.).
Detroit Institute of Arts, The Age of Impressionism and Objective Realism, May-June, 1940, cat. 20
New York, Wildenstein & Co., From Paris to Sea Down the River Seine, January-February, 1943, cat. 18 (ill.).
Richmond, Va., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Sport and the Horse, April 1-May 15, 1960, cat. 58.
Sarasota, Florida, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Palmer Family Collections Exhibition, February 23-March 24, 1963, cat. 13.
Rochester, New York, The Rochester Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, In Focus: A Look at Realism in Art, December 28, 1964-January 31, 1965.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Manet, November 3-December 11, 1966, cat. 68 (ill.), traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, January 13-February 19, 1967, shown only in Chicago.
Albi, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Trésors Impresionsistes de Museé de Chicago, June 27-August 31, 1980, cat. 2 (ill.).
Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, Manet and Modern Paris, December 5, 1982-March 6, 1983, cat. 43 (ill.).
Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Manet, April 22-August 1, 1983, cat. 99 (ill.), traveled to New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 10-November 27, 1983.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Manet as Printmaker: Works From the Permanent Collection, April 20-September 12, 1985, no cat.
Tokyo, Seibu Museum of Art, The Impressionist Tradition: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago, October 18- December 17, 1985, cat. 17 (ill.), traveled to Fukuoka Art Museum, January 5-February 2, 1986 and Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, March 4-April 13, 1986.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago’s Dream a World’s Treasure: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1893-1993, November 1, 1993-January 9, 1994, no cat. no., pl. 11.
Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Impressionnisme: Les origines, 1859–1869, April 19–August 8, 1994, cat. 106; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Origins of Impressionism, September 27, 1994–January 8, 1995.
London, National Gallery, Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890, November 1, 2000-January 28, 2001, no cat. no. (ill.); Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, March 2-May 20, 2001; Williamstown, Mass., Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, June 16-September 9, 2001.
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Edouard Manet und die Impressionisten, September 21, 2002-February 9, 2003, cat. 9 (ill.).
Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–November 2, 2008, cat. 7 (ill.).
Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Manet: Inventeur du Moderne, April 4–July 3. 2011, cat. 91.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Degas: At the Track, On the Stage, July 1, 2015-February 26, 2016, no cat.
Wuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum, Edouard Manet, October 22, 2017-February 25, 2018.
Washington, DC, The Phillips Collection, An Italian Impressionist in Paris: Giuseppe De Nittis, Nov. 12, 2022-Feb. 12, 2023, pl. 39.
Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Manet/Degas, Mar. 27-July 23, 2023, cat. 68; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sep. 12, 2023-Jan. 7, 2024, pl. 101.

The artist; sold to Emile Théodore Delius, Paris, 1877, for 1,000 francs [per see Copie faite pour E. Moreau-Nélaton de documents sur Manet appartenant à Léon Leenhoff vers 1910, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Estampes et photographie, RESERVE 8-YB3-2401, p. 76]; sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, June 1, 1896, for 3,000 francs [this and the following per Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for c. 1896 (no. 3838, as Les Courses), copy of archival reference in curatorial object file]; sold to Potter Palmer (d. 1902), Chicago, June 21, 1896, for 45,000 francs; by descent in the Palmer family, Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1922.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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