Art Review: Manet/Degas Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum a Blockbuster

First of all, I want to say how awed I was by Manet/Degas, the new exhibition at the Met. The exhibition examines the work of Édouard Manet (1832–1883) and Edgar Degas (1834–1917), two giants in French avant-garde art who were friends and antagonists. After Manet’s death, the relationship, wistful and enamored, continued in Degas’s head. It’s a solid, satisfying “compare and contrast” exhibition. Like all Met exhibitions, it’s beautifully arranged, and unlike many Met exhibitions, it’s coherent, mostly.

I’ll write two pieces about Manet/Degas, since it’s a sumptuous, dazzling exhibition.

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Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

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First of all, I want to say how awed I was by Manet/Degas, the new exhibition at the Met. The exhibition examines the work of Édouard Manet (1832–1883) and Edgar Degas (1834–1917), two giants in French avant-garde art who were friends and antagonists. After Manet’s death, the relationship, wistful and enamored, continued in Degas’s head. It’s a solid, satisfying “compare and contrast” exhibition. Like all Met exhibitions, it’s beautifully arranged, and unlike many Met exhibitions, it’s coherent, mostly.

I’ll write two pieces about Manet/Degas, since it’s a sumptuous, dazzling exhibition.