The Bistro — About This Work
Félix Vallotton, c. 1895
About the Work
Customers crowd a bistro counter, their dark jackets and flushed faces pressing into a lively interior. Vallotton makes the shared space feel busy by allowing figures to accumulate across the scene.
The counter organises that activity into a broad horizontal movement. Its solidity gives the crowd a common point of focus, while the succession of heads and shoulders introduces smaller shifts of direction and attention.
The museum suggests a contrast between the warmth of the drinks and the cold outside. Rather than identifying individual customers, the painting concentrates on a recognisable social setting and the collective energy of people gathered closely together.
The Work
Artist: Félix Vallotton
Title: The Bistro
Date: c. 1895
Medium: Oil on canvas
Recorded dimensions: 27 × 22.2 cm (W × H)
Collection: Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession number: 2020.114
Print & Presentation
Palatine presentation: 30 × 40 cm Classic Frame, landscape.
The complete artwork is reproduced at its recorded scale, subject only to negligible whole-pixel rounding, without enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion. The surrounding white presentation area accommodates the artwork within the framed presentation and is incorporated into the print rather than added as a separate mount.
Frame finishes: Black, White or Natural.
Paper & glazing: Enhanced Matte + Perspex; or Enhanced Matte + Moth-Eye.
Why Original Scale?
Most art-print shops offer the same image in a choice of Small, Medium and Large sizes. We take a different approach. For each edition, we begin with the recorded dimensions of the original work and reproduce the complete image at that scale, preserving its proportions and avoiding enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion.
Source: Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0. Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift. 2020.114.
Care: Display in a dry interior away from prolonged direct sunlight and sources of moisture.
Notes from Palatine
If you would like to stay with us, Notes from Palatine is an occasional letter about newly added works, artists and the thinking behind the collection. There is no fixed schedule; we write when there is something worth sharing.
Palatine Editions · Original Scale Editions · palatineeditions.com