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In any case, the execution is so triumphantly free and direct, so conscious of the weight, texture and reality of things, that this small painting not only coheres but expands almost to monumental scale in your mind's eye. In it, as in so many of the pictures in this exquisite show, one sees why Manet inspired such passionate attachment among the younger Impressionists--and why his art, so vastly influential and yet impossible to imitate, remains a touchstone of freshness and originality long after his death.
