1868
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
The Boy with Soap Bubbles (L'enfant aux bulles de savon) is a 1868 ink by Edouard Manet, a Impressionism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This black-and-white print shows a boy in a loose shirt and collar, holding a bowl in one hand while blowing a soap bubble with the other. His face is turned slightly toward us, and the background is dark with just a hint of a table or ledge below him. The lines are scratchy and textured, giving it a rough, handmade feel. The artist used a mix of etching and aquatint to create this print, which lets the ink sit in grooves and spread softly in some areas. This technique makes the boy’s clothes and the bubble look almost three-dimensional. Next, check out etching to see how artists carve into metal plates to make prints.
Édouard Manet didn’t have much time to make his mark—he died at 51—but he used every year.
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