The Rabbit 1866 - 1869

Curator: This small etching by Édouard Manet, titled "The Rabbit," resides here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It’s stark, isn’t it? That small, almost brutal image suspended in so much blank space. Curator: Precisely! Manet's stark realism often challenged the status quo. This rabbit, lifeless, evokes traditional hunting still lifes, yet without the opulent display. Editor: Rabbits carry such weight in folklore. Fertility, vulnerability, the hunt… This image strips away romanticism, leaving only the bare reality of death. Curator: And the etching technique… the stark lines, the areas of deep shadow. It adds to the unsettling atmosphere, doesn't it? Making a political point about class dynamics or about the gaze, perhaps? Editor: It certainly offers a potent symbol, forcing a confrontation with mortality itself. A rabbit represents more than what’s on the surface. Curator: Indeed. Food for thought. Editor: An unsettling image to carry with us.