A Box at the Opéra

Like Degas, the youthful Jean-Louis Forain had a preference for theatre and restaurant motifs. He was one of the strongest artistic personalities among Degas’s followers. Under the influence of Goya and Daumier he mainly did graphic work as magazine and book illustrations or in series. As a painter he had mastered Impressionist techniques, having a precise touch for light conditions and a subtle flair for the structural division of a visual space. His small format scenes of the entertainment world used distinctive contrasts of dark and light or of strong, glowing colour, and combined sketchy adumbrations with more substantial blocks of solid colour that had their own patchwork, asymmetrical values.