Musée d’Orsay · 1885
Around the Piano
Henri Fantin-Latour
Fantin-Latour paints a circle of musicians and music-lovers gathered around the composer Emmanuel Chabrier at the piano — a later, calmer companion to his earlier group portraits of painters, this time honoring the Paris music scene he loved just as much as painting.
Why it matters
Fantin-Latour paints a circle of musicians and music-lovers gathered around the composer Emmanuel Chabrier at the piano — a later, calmer companion to his earlier group portraits of painters, this time honoring the Paris music scene he loved just as much as painting.
Look closer
Notice how Fantin-Latour arranges everyone's attention toward the piano, using the group's postures and glances to lead your eye exactly where his own focus was.
This was the last in a series of large group portraits Fantin-Latour made celebrating different circles of friends — after this one, he mostly returned to painting flowers.
Value context
ELYIO places this work in an indicative editorial context of €6–14 million.
The museum work is not for sale. This is ELYIO indicative context—not an appraisal, insurance value or offer.