The Fifer

Édouard Manet

1866 · Oil on canvas · Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Size2:3 ratio

Frame

$59Unframed print · made to order

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Giclée-printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper

Ships worldwide in 3–6 business days after production

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About this work

Artist: Édouard Manet (1832–1883)
Year: 1866
Medium: Oil on canvas
Original size: 160 × 97 cm
Collection: Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Movement: Impressionism

A boy fifer in uniform stands life-size against a flat grey ground, his red trousers and dark tunic laid in as broad, almost unshaded areas of colour. Manet painted it in 1866, the year after his visit to the Prado, where Velázquez's full-length portraits of jesters and courtiers, figures surrounded by nothing but air, had astonished him. He gave an anonymous regimental musician the same treatment as a Spanish grandee, with the floor and wall barely distinguished and the folds of the trousers drawn with thick streaks of white. The Salon jury of 1866 turned it down, and Émile Zola, who saw in it a truly modern feeling, wrote in Manet's defence. The painting came to the state in the Camondo bequest of 1911 and hangs in the Musée d'Orsay.

This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.

Details & materials

• Exhibition poster — original, drawn in-house • Heavyweight matte fine-art paper, giclée printed at 300 DPI • Sizes: 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in; 16×24 and 24×36 also available framed in black or natural wood • Made to order; colours may vary slightly from screen

Shipping & returns

Produced in 2–4 business days, then shipped from the facility nearest you. Delivery is typically 3–6 business days (US/UK/EU) and 5–12 worldwide. Because each print is made to order we don't take change-of-mind returns, but if it arrives damaged or flawed we'll reprint or refund it — no return needed. Full policy →

Is this the whole painting, or a crop?

The whole work, uncropped. The exhibition-poster edition sets the complete image above typography designed in-house.

Is The Fifer (Le Fifre) in the public domain?

Yes. Édouard Manet (1832–1883) died more than 70 years ago and the work was published before 1929, so the painting itself is public domain. This print is a reproduction made from a high-resolution scan of the original, which is held by Musée d'Orsay.

What is it printed on?

Heavyweight matte fine-art paper with pigment inks, made to order in 12×18, 16×24 and 24×36 inches; the two larger sizes are also offered framed. Colours are matched to the scan, not brightened.

When was The Fifer (Le Fifre) painted, and in what medium?

The Fifer (Le Fifre) dates from 1866 and was made in oil on canvas; the original measures 160 × 97 cm.

What size works above a sofa or bed?

For a standard three-seat sofa or a queen bed, 24×36 inches reads as a single statement piece; 16×24 suits a narrower wall or a pairing. The print's proportions follow the original, so a landscape-format painting is wider than it is tall.

About this design

A museum-exhibition poster of Édouard Manet's The Fifer — The Fifer — a boy of the Imperial Guard in red trousers playing his fife against a flat grey ground — shown whole and uncropped beneath gallery typography. The Birth of Modern Painting, styled as a blockbuster exhibition print. A gallery-style exhibition poster: a celebrated public-domain artwork shown whole and uncropped beneath original exhibition typography set in-house — printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper. Three sizes (12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in); the 16×24 and 24×36 are also offered framed. Part of the Madten Exhibition Posters Collection. — — — Printed to order and shipped by our production partner, Gelato.

Buy with confidence

The Madten promise

Gallery-grade archival giclée. Rich pigment inks on heavyweight fine-art paper (or gallery-wrapped canvas) — built to last, not a poster-shop print.

Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free. Every piece is made to order; if it shows up damaged or flawed we remake it, no return needed.

Free worldwide shipping. Made & shipped from the facility nearest you — most orders arrive in ~4–8 business days.

Secure checkout. Payments handled by Stripe; we never see or store your card.

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