Private Lecture & Tour -Manet and the Second Empire by Bridgette McCullough Alexander and Dinner from Henri's Bistro

Manet and the Second Empire

Private Lecture at the Art Institute of Chicago Manet Gallery

& Dinner at Henri's Bistro  

Thursday, May 9, 2013

One of the most glorious human achievements, Modern Art emerged during the 1850s in Paris in a spectacular milieu of world culture, commerce and fashion.

Join an evening of viewing modern art, conversation and dining with art historian Bridgette McCullough Alexander, author and Lab parent. Enjoy one of the worldís great collections of modern art and see first hand breath-taking masterpieces by the father of modern art, Edouard Manet, as well as the works of his contemporaries Courbet, Bazille and Cezanne.

Guests will meet the first artists to express modern life in Paris with a revolutionary new aesthetic. Their paintings immortalized a fast-paced urban life. With both realism and poetic pizzazz, they painted the liberated modern French woman - la Parisienne; an ethnic and racially diverse people; the energy of public spaces; and above all else, the excitement, beauty and politics of the moment in rapidly modernizing Paris.

We will convene with aperitifs at Henri's, a contemporary French bistro and, after visiting the Art Institute of Chicago, return there again to dine as Manet, Courbet, Monet and Renoir would have enjoyed. Henri's will prepare a dinner inspired by the 19^th century haute cuisine of Careme and Escoffier.