Cultural Ferment 803Edouard Manet s Dejeuner sur I'herbe (1863).
The rebuilding of Paris opened up new possibilities for the understand
ing of modernity. Impressionists found the great boulevards fitting subjects
for their portrayal of modern life. The early impressionists were also influ
enced by the growing commercialization of leisure in Paris. Edgar Degas
(1834-1917) followed wealthy Parisians to theaters, racetracks, cafes, and
cafe-concerts, which offered entertainment that included vaudeville acts,
poetry readings, comedians, and singers renowned for bawdy lyrics. Degas
frequently chose female entertainers, most of w hom were draw n from the
popular classes, as his subjects. In the shadows of his ballet paintings lurk
wealthy gentlemen awaiting their prey, like Napoleon III himself, who
occupy the loges closest to the stage at the opera or stand in the shadows
of the dressing rooms of the dancers, ready to claim their prizes. Degas,
whose banking family had lost its money early in an economic depression,
presented unflattering, dark stereotypes of Parisian speculators in At the
Stock Exchange (1879). The increasing anonymity of the burgeoning city
w'as also a frequent impressionist theme. Degas’s L Absinthe (1876-1877)
shows two disconnected figures in a cafe. Such encounters w ith strangers
seemed an intrinsic part of modern life.
Monet also manifested an uneasy ambivalence toward large-scale indus
try. In the 1870s, he lived in the industrializing Paris suburb of Argenteuil.