L'Absinthe

A man and a woman sit side by side at a cafe table, glasses of the cloudy green liquor before them, both staring blankly into space, slumped and isolated though shoulder to shoulder. Degas frames them off-center, pushed to the side behind empty tables, heightening their numb detachment. Now in the Musee d'Orsay, L'Absinthe drew outrage for its bleak honesty - taken as a grim warning about drink and urban loneliness. It is among his most piercing studies of modern alienation, two people utterly alone together in the anonymous bustle of the Paris cafe.