Manet only began using pastels late in his life, but he soon mastered the subtleties of the medium. Completing his first pastel in 1874, Manet went on to execute eighty-nine pastels, and more than seventy of these are portraits of women. With the sitter’s soft yet thoughtful expression and delicate features, Jeune fille au col cassé, de profil exemplifies the breezy elegance and ephemeral atmosphere Manet creates in his pastel portraits.

The spirited technique in the application of the pastel contributes to the air of spontaneity and the intimacy of the present work. Commenting on the artist’s skill, Françoise Cachin wrote: “Between 1879 and 1882, Manet did a series of dazzling portraits of women, about which Rewald has noted that while ‘Manet had to fight frequently against a dangerous tendency of faire folie, in his pastels he did not oppose this tendency.’ Hence his great success with his models. Pastels allowed him a freshness, a gay palette, a powdery texture more flattering to the face” (Françoise Cachin, Manet 1832-1883 (exhibition catalogue), Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris & The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1983, p. 493).

“Pastel was for him a comparatively easy exercise, a diversion,” explained Théodore Duret, “and gained him the company of the engaging women who came to pose for him” (quoted in ibid., p. 429). Duret noted that this straightforward medium offered Manet a break from the labors of oil paint, especially as he grew weary during the final months of his life. 

As Duret points out, Manet continued to seek out the company of beautiful women, even as his health failed him and despite the ever-abiding presence of his wife Suzanne. Joseph de Nittis provided the following description of Mme Manet's tolerance for her husband's indiscretions: “One day, [Manet] was following some pretty girl, slender and coquettish. His wife suddenly came up to him, saying, with her merry laugh, 'This time, I caught you.' 'There,' he said, "That's funny! I thought it was you.' Now Mme Manet, a bit on the heavy side, a placid Dutchwoman, was no frail Parisienne. She told the story herself, with her smiling good humor” (quoted in ibid., p. 437).

Fig 1. Édouard Manet, Jeune fille en déshabillé, 1882, pastel on paper, sold: Sotheby’s London, February, 8 2011, lot 17 for $2,588,467