This freely executed painting captures the thrilling conclusion of a horse race at Longchamp, located at the Bois de Boulogne on the western edge of Paris. Here, \u00c9douard Manet radically departed from conventional representations of the sport, in which races were shown from the side with the horses in profile. Instead, the competitors gallop thunderously toward the viewer, raising a cloud of turf, their pace underlined by the sweeping diagonals of the racetrack fences.<\/p>\n
In France, horse racing became an important form of popular entertainment during the nineteenth century. Imported from England, the racetrack\u2014with its speed, spectacle, and luxury\u2014was a quintessentially modern space. In Manet\u2019s painting, a throng of fashionably dressed men and women press against the fences to witness the event\u2014one man, at the upper left, uses binoculars to better observe the race.<\/p>\n
Unlike his friend Edgar Degas<\/a>, for whom the racetrack was a constant source of inspiration, Manet produced only two paintings on the theme. Originally a much larger composition, this canvas was cut down to its present scale by the artist.<\/p>\n","short_description":"\u00c9douard Manet composed this scene of a racetrack so that the throng of horses and jockeys thunders straight toward the viewer. In contrast to traditional sporting artists, who always showed races from the side with the horses in profile, Manet achieved a sense of expansive space with this thrilling perspective. The painting records the last moments of the race as the horses rush past the finish line, indicated by the pole with a circular top.","dimensions":"44 \u00d7 84.2 cm (17 5\/16 \u00d7 33 1\/8 in.); Framed: 69.6 \u00d7 109.9 \u00d7 10.2 cm (27 3\/8 \u00d7 43 1\/4 \u00d7 4 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":84,"height":44,"diameter":null,"clarification":null},{"depth":10,"width":109,"height":69,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Framed"}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":"Inscribed lower right: Manet. \/ 1866","credit_line":"Potter Palmer Collection","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Emile Zola, Edouard Manet: Etude biographique et critique (Paris, 1867), p. 39, reprinted in Zola, Mes Haines (Paris, 1928).\n\nTheodore Duret, Historie d\u2019Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre (Paris, 1902), p. 228, no. 142.\n\nZeitschrift f\u00fcr Bildende Kunst (April 1, 1910), p. 188.\n\nTh\u00e9odore Duret, Manet and the French Impressionists (Paris, 1910), p. 231, no. 142.\n\nB. Haendcke, \u201cDie historischen Grundlagen der Hell- und Freilichtmalerei,\u201d Die Kunst 12, (January 1, 1911), p. 156 (ill).\n\nJulius Meier-Graefe, \u00c9douard Manet (Munich, 1912), p. 220, fig. 123.\n\nCicerone (October 1, 1913), p. 680.\n\nAntonin Proust, \u201cErinnerungen an \u00c9douard Manet,\u201d Kunst und K\u00fcnstler 11 (1913), p. 211 (ill.).\n\nJacques Emile Blanche, Quatre-Vingts Ans de peinture libre, 1800-1885 (Paris 1920), no. 17 (ill.)\n\nM.C., \u201cManets in the Art Institute,\u201d The Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 18 (1924), p. 49 (ill.).\n\nJ.-E. Blanche, Manet (Paris, 1925), pp. 41, 46, pl. 26.\n\nLeon Rosenthal, \u201cManet et l\u2019Espagne,\u201d Gazette des Beaux Arts 12 (1925), pp. 210, 212.\n\nE. Moreau-Nelaton, Manet racont\u00e9 par lui-m\u00eame vol. 2 (Paris, 1926), no. 61.\n\nTh\u00e9dore Duret, Histoire de \u00c9douard Manet et de son oeuvre (Paris, 1926), p. 255, no. 142.\n\nP. Fierens, \u201c\u00c9douard Manet,\u201d L\u2019Art et les Artistes 21 (October 1930), p. 11 (ill.).\n\nA. Tabarant, Manet: Historie catalographique (Paris, 1931), p.136, no. 96.\n\nR. H. Wilenski, French Painting, 1931, p. 245, plate 111a (ill.).\n\nA. Tabarant, \u201cManet, (\u00e1 propos de son Centennaire),\u201d Revue de l\u2019Art (Ancien et Moderne) 61 (1932), p. 19 (ill.).\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Handbook to the Collection of the Art Institute (Chicago, 1932), pp. 56 (ill.), 162.\n\nPaul Jamot and Georges Wildenstein, Manet (Paris, 1932), vol. 1, p. 143, no. 202 and vol. 2, p. 178, fig. 358.\n\nDaniel Catton Rich, \u201cThe Spanish Background for Manet\u2019s Early Work,\u201d Parnassus, (February 1932), p. 4.\n\nThe Art Institute Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago 1936), p. 60 (ill.).\n\nTh\u00e9odore Duret, Manet, translated by J.E. Crawford Flitch (New York, 1937), pl. 14 (ill.).\n\nAlfred M. Frankfurter, \u201cManet: First American Retrospective,\u201d The Art News (March 20, 1937), p. 24.\n\nMagazine of Art 30 (1937), pp. 243, 244 (ill.).\n\nA.P. McMahon, \u201cManet Fifty Years Later\u201d Parnassus 9 (March 1937), p. 9 (ill.).\n\nAlfred M. Frankfurter, \u201cManet: First American Retrospective,\u201d the Art News (March 20, 1937), pp. 11-14, 24, 11(ill.).\n\nRobert Rey, Manet (Paris, 1938), pp. 120 (ill.), 163, no. 120.\n\nDetroit Institute of Arts Bulletin 19 (1940), p. 88.\n\nG. Jedlicka, \u00c9douard Manet (1941), pp. 163, 166, 403, ill. opp. p. 166.\n\nH. Huth, \u201cImpressionism Comes to America,\u201d Gazette des Beaux-Arts ser. 6, 29 (1946), pp. 237, fig. 12, 242.\n\nA. Tabarant, Manet et ses oeuvres (Paris, 1947), no. 101, pp. 101, 536 (ill.)\n\nMichel Florisoone, Manet (Monaco, 1947), p. 29.\n\nLionello Venturi, Impressionists and Symbolists (London, 1950), p. 20, fig. 11.\n\nJ. Babelon, \u201cLa Expa\u00f1a de Manet y el Manet de Espa\u00f1a,\u201d Claville\u00f1o 3, 13 (January-February 1952,), pp. 15-20, 16 (ill.).\n\nJ. L. Vaudoyer, Edouard Manet (Paris, 1955), pl. 18.\n\nThe Art Institute Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago, 1956), p. 60 (ill.).\n\nJohn Richardson, Manet (London and New York, 1958), no. 25.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute: A Catalogue pf the Picture Collection (Chicago 1961), pp. 268-269, 281 (ill.).\n\nPierre Courthion, Edouard Manet (New York, 1962), pp. 86-87.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Comments on Selected Paintings in the Collection of The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago 1965), p. 34.\n\nFrederick A. Sweet, \u201cGreat Chicago Collectors,\u201d Apollo 134 (September 1966), pp. 171, 193, 191, fig. 5, 194. \n\nJean Harris, \u201cManet\u2019s Race-track Paintings,\u201d The Art Bulletin 48, 1 (March 1966), pp 78-82.\n\nAnne Coffin Hanson, Edouard Manet (1966), pp. 86 cat. 68 (ill.), 87.\n\nPhoebe Pool and Sandra Orienti, The Complete Paintings of Manet (New York, 1967), no. 87 (ill.).\n\nJohn Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (New York, 1970), pp. 26 (ill.), 283.\n\nKarl Berger, Das Tier in der Kunst (Leipzig, 1971), p. 20, no. 37 (ill.).\n\nAlice Bellony- Rewald, The Lost World of Impressionism (London, 1976), p. 186 (ill.).\n\nBenjamin Lowe, The Beauty of Sport: A Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry (New Jersey, 1977), fig. 16a.\n\nCharles F. Stuckey and Naomi Maurer, The Art Institute of Chicago: Toulouse-Lautrec: Paintings (Chicago, 1979), p. 59, fig. 1.\n\nDiane Kelder, Great Book of Impressionism (New York, 1980), p. 115 (ill.).\n\nTheodore Reff, Manet and Modern Paris: One Hundred Paintings, Drawings, Prints, and Photographs by Manet and His Contemporaries (Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, 1982), pl. 10, pp. 134, no. 43 (ill.).\n\nKathleen Adler, Manet (Oxford, 1986), p. 166, fig. 153.\n\nRichard R. Brettell, French Impressionists (Chicago, 1987), pp. 62-65 (ill.), 119.\n\nRobin Spencer, \u201cManet, Rosseti, London and Derby Days,\u201d Burlington Magazine 134 (April 1991), pp. 228-233, 233 (ill.)\n\nVivien Perutz, Edouard Manet (London, 1993), p. 142, fig. 104.\n\nRobert Snell, \u201c Seen Through a Temperament,\u201d Time Literary Supplement (December 15, 2000), p. 16.\n\nGilles N\u00e9ret, Edouard Manet 1832-1883: The First of the Moderns (Cologne, 2003), p. 37 (ill.).\n\nThe Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London, 2008), cat. 7, pp. 36\u201337 (ill.).\n\n\u201cManet, Cat. 12, The Races at Longchamp,\u201d in Manet Paintings and Works on Paper at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2017), https:\/\/publications.artic.edu\/manet\/reader\/manetart\/section\/140020<\/a>. \n\nRenatto Miracco, \"Re-Reading De Nittis,\" in An Italian Impressionist in Paris: Giuseppe De Nittis, exh. cat. (Washington, DC: The Phillips Collection, 2022), 43, 157 pl. 39, 229.\n\nLaurence des Cars, Stephane Gu\u00e9gan and Isolde Pludermacher, Manet\/Degas, exh. cat. (Paris: Mus\u00e9e d'Orsay: Gallimard, 2023), 92-93 cat. 68.\n\nStephan Wolohojian and Ashley E. Dunn, Manet\/Degas, exh. cat. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2023), 200 pl. 101, 297.\n\nJames Rondeau, ed., Highlights of the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2026), 117, 261, no. 84, (ill.).","exhibition_history":"Paris, Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Exposition des Oeuvres de Edouard Manet, January 1884, cat. 61.\n\nNew York, Durand-Ruel Galleries, Exposition of Paintings by Edouard Manet, 1895, cat. 27.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition Painting and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1933, cat. 332.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition Painting and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1934, cat. 252.\n\nNew York, Wildenstein & Co., Edouard Manet: A Retrospective Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of French Hospitals, March-April, 1937, cat. 18 (ill.).\n\nCambridge, Mass., The Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University, The Horse: Its Significance in Art, April 20-May 2, 1938, cat. 14 (ill.).\n\nDetroit Institute of Arts, The Age of Impressionism and Objective Realism, May-June, 1940, cat. 20\n\nNew York, Wildenstein & Co., From Paris to Sea Down the River Seine, January-February, 1943, cat. 18 (ill.).\n\nRichmond, Va., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Sport and the Horse, April 1-May 15, 1960, cat. 58.\n\nSarasota, Florida, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Palmer Family Collections Exhibition, February 23-March 24, 1963, cat. 13.\n\nRochester, New York, The Rochester Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, In Focus: A Look at Realism in Art, December 28, 1964-January 31, 1965.\n\nThe Philadelphia Museum of Art, Manet, November 3-December 11, 1966, cat. 68 (ill.), traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, January 13-February 19, 1967, shown only in Chicago.\n\nAlbi, Mus\u00e9e Toulouse-Lautrec, Tr\u00e9sors Impresionsistes de Muse\u00e9 de Chicago, June 27-August 31, 1980, cat. 2 (ill.).\n\nWashington D.C., National Gallery of Art, Manet and Modern Paris, December 5, 1982-March 6, 1983, cat. 43 (ill.).\n\nParis, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Manet, April 22-August 1, 1983, cat. 99 (ill.), traveled to New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 10-November 27, 1983.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Manet as Printmaker: Works From the Permanent Collection, April 20-September 12, 1985, no cat.\n\nTokyo, Seibu Museum of Art, The Impressionist Tradition: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago, October 18- December 17, 1985, cat. 17 (ill.), traveled to Fukuoka Art Museum, January 5-February 2, 1986 and Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, March 4-April 13, 1986.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago\u2019s Dream a World\u2019s Treasure: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1893-1993, November 1, 1993-January 9, 1994, no cat. no., pl. 11.\n\nParis, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Impressionnisme: Les origines, 1859\u20131869, April 19\u2013August 8, 1994, cat. 106; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Origins of Impressionism, September 27, 1994\u2013January 8, 1995.\n\nLondon, National Gallery, Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890, November 1, 2000-January 28, 2001, no cat. no. (ill.); Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, March 2-May 20, 2001; Williamstown, Mass., Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, June 16-September 9, 2001. \n\nStaatsgalerie Stuttgart, Edouard Manet und die Impressionisten, September 21, 2002-February 9, 2003, cat. 9 (ill.).\n\nFort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29\u2013November 2, 2008, cat. 7 (ill.).\n\nParis, Mus\u00e9e d'Orsay, Manet: Inventeur du Moderne, April 4\u2013July 3. 2011, cat. 91.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, Degas: At the Track, On the Stage, July 1, 2015-February 26, 2016, no cat.\n\nWuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum, Edouard Manet, October 22, 2017-February 25, 2018.\n\nWashington, DC, The Phillips Collection, An Italian Impressionist in Paris: Giuseppe De Nittis, Nov. 12, 2022-Feb. 12, 2023, pl. 39.\n\nParis, Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay, Manet\/Degas, Mar. 27-July 23, 2023, cat. 68; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sep. 12, 2023-Jan. 7, 2024, pl. 101.","provenance_text":"The artist; sold to Emile Th\u00e9odore Delius, Paris, 1877, for 1,000 francs [per see Copie faite pour E. Moreau-N\u00e9laton de documents sur Manet appartenant \u00e0 L\u00e9on Leenhoff vers 1910, Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France, Estampes et photographie, RESERVE 8-YB3-2401, p. 76]; sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, June 1, 1896, for 3,000 francs [this and the following per Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for c. 1896 (no. 3838, as Les Courses), copy of archival reference in curatorial object file]; sold to Potter Palmer (d. 1902), Chicago, June 21, 1896, for 45,000 francs; by descent in the Palmer family, Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1922.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":14,"fiscal_year":1922,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":true,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":24.2869,"color":{"h":39,"l":64,"s":53,"percentage":0.0124582243238705,"population":46},"latitude":41.879742259065,"longitude":-87.6233519241213,"latlon":"41.879742259065,-87.623351924121","is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 225","gallery_id":2147483603,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Painting and Sculpture of Europe","department_id":"PC-10","artist_id":35577,"artist_title":"\u00c9douard Manet","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[35577],"artist_titles":["\u00c9douard Manet"],"category_ids":["PC-10"],"category_titles":["Painting and Sculpture of Europe"],"term_titles":["oil on canvas","horses","oil painting","Impressionism","oil paint (paint)","animals","Competition","clouds","landscape","race","women","men","figures","horse","french","paint","canvas","paint","painting","painting","painting (image making)","painting techniques","19th century","painting","european painting","work","weather\/seasons","leisure","circles","landscapes","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs"],"style_id":"TM-7543","style_title":"Impressionism","alt_style_ids":["TM-13203"],"style_ids":["TM-7543","TM-13203"],"style_titles":["Impressionism","19th century"],"classification_id":"TM-66","classification_title":"oil on canvas","alt_classification_ids":["TM-14976","TM-10387","TM-9","TM-54"],"classification_ids":["TM-66","TM-14976","TM-10387","TM-9","TM-54"],"classification_titles":["oil on canvas","french","paint","painting","european painting"],"subject_id":"TM-8804","alt_subject_ids":["TM-12218","TM-15060","TM-11222","TM-14145","TM-14592","TM-8735","TM-10121","TM-15161","TM-14272","TM-10093","TM-10095","TM-10094","TM-8803","TM-8657","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176"],"subject_ids":["TM-8804","TM-12218","TM-15060","TM-11222","TM-14145","TM-14592","TM-8735","TM-10121","TM-15161","TM-14272","TM-10093","TM-10095","TM-10094","TM-8803","TM-8657","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176"],"subject_titles":["horses","animals","Competition","clouds","landscape","race","women","men","figures","horse","work","weather\/seasons","leisure","circles","landscapes","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-3124","TM-2577","TM-13502"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-3124","TM-2577","TM-13502"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","canvas","paint","painting"],"technique_id":"TM-4273","alt_technique_ids":["TM-14210","TM-3891","TM-3971"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-14210","TM-3891","TM-3971"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting","painting (image making)","painting techniques"],"theme_titles":[],"image_id":"e9ce5aca-4c34-c8dd-b8a1-91b3e3197211","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":["6b026d8b-285d-23c1-ac32-0604915eb196"],"sound_ids":["6b026d8b-285d-23c1-ac32-0604915eb196"],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[39217361933],"section_titles":["Cat. 12 \u00a0The Races at Longchamp, 1866"],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1922.424"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["The Races at Longchamp"],"weight":20489,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-08-12T11:21:56-05:00","updated_at":"2026-09-01T03:06:03-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-06T05:51:22-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. 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