The Croquet Game

Painted in 1873 and now at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, The Croquet Game depicts fashionable Parisians playing croquet in a garden — an outdoor leisure subject that represents Manet's engagement with the world of modern middle-class recreation. The subject has parallels with Monet's contemporary garden and park scenes, but Manet's treatment maintains his characteristic emphasis on specific figure presence over atmospheric effect. Croquet — imported from England and newly fashionable in France in the 1860s-70s — was an ideal subject for exploring the textures of contemporary social leisure. The Städel holds the painting as part of its important collection of French 19th-century works.

The figures are distributed across a sunlit garden setting, their light summer clothing handled in pale, sun-struck tones. Manet renders the dappled garden light with his direct method rather than the broken Impressionist touch. The coloured croquet balls and mallets provide bright chromatic accents. Each figure is individually characterised while the group maintains the easy informality of outdoor leisure.