Woman with a Parrot 1866

Edouard Manet painted 'Woman with a Parrot' with oil on canvas; it now hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The painting employs a subdued palette, dominated by the woman’s light pink dressing gown. The brushwork throughout is quite loose, with a strong focus on the shapes and the modulation of the color, rather than precise detail. Manet challenges traditional portraiture by emphasizing the interplay between the figure and the composition. The woman's gaze is directed away from us, and this creates a sense of detachment. The parrot itself seems to mirror this detachment and becomes a pivotal element in destabilizing conventional expectations of subject and background. This painting invites us to consider how Manet uses formal elements to question and redefine the established norms of representation, suggesting that meaning is not fixed, but rather fluid.