Continuing my recent theme of glasses in art,
I have been collecting Absinthe, and other French
cafe glasses, for the last 16 or 17 years now.

These are just a cross section of the many
shapes and sizes in my collection.

Over the years I have discovered the large
number of artists who liked to paint these glasses.
I have picked out the glass of Absinthe from some
of these paintings.

Manet’s Absinthe Drinker is perhaps the best known.

He also managed to include an unmistakable
Absinthe Glass (cunningly disguised as a rose vase)
in the painting; The Bar at the Folies Bergere.

I particularly like this one by Gustave Bourgain because
its a glass I have in my collection.

This is a rather more stylised glass by
Toulouse- Lautrec in Monsieur Boileau au Cafe

This is Van Gogh’s variation.
The painting is called l’Absinthe

And this one is by Henri Bouvet from
L’Absinthe au bord de l’eau

Picasso of course painted lots of Absinthe Glasses
here in La Buveuse d’absinthe

He even sculpted some
( Verre d’Absinthe)

My very favourite, chipped and cracked glass
is by Swiss artist Ihly
Le Buveur d’absinthe

Our own Orpen put one into his painting
The Cafe Royal in London

I coulden’t resist photographing a glass of Absinthe
myself this morning, I have a bottle of Absinthe which
I bought in Alsace a few years ago. I don’t think I am
as strong as the French artists though, I hadn’t the courage
to start the day on an Absinthe so I, wimpishly, poured it
down the sink after the shot.