The Green Fairy Painting Analysis

“The Green Fairy” is one name for the infamous drink of Absinthe, known for its haunting green pigment and its heavily alcoholic content. Absinthe, has defiantly earned its reputation as the drink of sinner’s fair and square. Those who consumed it were often either degenerates or artists and intellectuals, such as Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, and Edgar Degas. With such an interest and bewitching reputation, as well as the recipe it’s no surprise it has always been a popular choice of drink for artists. Nowhere is this truer than in France, Paris specifically, where the drink flickered green throughout the streets, sparking the worlds interest in it. In Paris, around the second half of the nineteenth century, Absinthe became known as the drink that drove the nation’s artists. Edgar Degas’ oil

It should be noted that despite the Parisian artist’s fondness for the drink, Degas still paints a scene that is infected by the drinks opposite outcome.2 The café featured in the painting seems realistic in setting, illustrating a peek into the life of a Parisian artist. Yet, in fact, the painting was done in a studio, not a café. 3 This is amazing since the realistic dimension is enamoring, almost like a picture taken from an adjacent table. Despite being painted in the studio.
In France, especially Paris, absinthe became known as the “the queen of poisons.” 1 It quickly became considered the cause of a range of social changes as well as a symbol and fuel for creative individuals, who made the nation of France a center for and of artistic life.1 From a rise in population at asylums, to women’s emancipation and union unrest, absinthe was considered the cause of it all, therefore gaining a licentious