The Plum

The Plum (French: La Prune) - also known as Plum Brandy - is an oil-on-canvas painting by Édouard Manet. It is undated but thought to have been painted about 1877.

The painting is a study in loneliness, depicting a quiet, almost melancholy, scene of a young working girl seated in a café. The subject is viewed from nearby, perhaps by another seated customer. She may be a prostitute waiting for a client, or possibly a shop worker hoping for some conversation. On the table is a plum soaked in brandy, a speciality of Parisian cafés at the time (originally painted as a glass of beer), which gives the painting its title. She may be waiting for a waiter to bring a spoon to eat her plum. The plum may be a reference to the woman's sexuality, as the fruit was used in James Joyce's Ulysses. She leans forward, with her cheek resting on her right hand, and her right elbow on the marble tabletop, looking into the distance with a blank pensive look. Her left hand rests on the table holding an unlit cigarette. She wears a pink dress with embroidered cuffs, a white blouse, and a black hat draped with silk and lace. Her head is framed by the decorative grille behind her, above the red upholstered banquette on which she sits.