The Parisian Life

The Parisian Life, also known as Interior d'un Cafi (also spelled Interior d'Un Café, literally meaning
"Inside a Café"), is an 1892 oil on canvas impressionist painting by Filipino painter and revolutionary
activist Juan Luna.

Form of Art – painting

❖LINE- Straight lines used to focus on viewpoints and objects while curve lines
were used to emphasize the depth and mood. There were also vertical lines that
can be seen at the window of the cafe.

❖ SHAPE- The painting used 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional shapes to present

❖ COLOR- Vintage brown, black, and grey mostly dominated the artwork and
added some accent colors such as light pink, white, and violet.

❖ TONE- The artwork showed a light to dark tonal value as the perspective goes
from right to left.
Texture of surface
TEXTURE- It showed a light to moderate texture due to it being an oil painting.
Context of object
Paris France and around October 1884 to February 1893
 ANALYSIS
❖ Superimposition of the
Philippine archipelago mirror
image was the lady on the
painting.
❖ Parisian life is Luna’s
contribution to the
revolution because it
portrays the
propagandists Luna, Bautista
Lin and Rizal as if figuring out
ways on how to free
the lady from the bondage of
exploitation.
❖ The lady appears to be
being choked too as there is a
line on top of her head
because that time our country
was being oppressed by the
colonizers.
❖ The lone lady in the table
portrays the Philippines that
were being isolated during
the time of Spanish era and
being labeled as ‘indios’ and
‘savage’
❖ Superimposition of the
Philippine archipelago mirror
image was the lady on the
painting.
❖ Parisian life is Luna’s
contribution to the
revolution because it
portrays the
propagandists Luna, Bautista
Lin and Rizal as if figuring out
ways on how to free
the lady from the bondage of
exploitation.
❖ The lady appears to be
being choked too as there is a
line on top of her head
because that time our country
was being oppressed by the
colonizers.
❖ The lone lady in the table
portrays the Philippines that
were being isolated during
the time of Spanish era and
being labeled as ‘indios’ and
‘savage’
Newspaper
The newspaper L'Echo De Paris
is folded up behind the lady.
The newspaper
stands for the Cry of Bastille or
the French Revolution, the
inspiration of the
Philippine Revolution. The
French aspirations of
freedom, brotherhood and
equality were the same as the
Filipinos' longings. Thus, the
French Revolution,
the echo of Paris, is clearly
behind the disturbed state of the
motherland of the
Philippines in 1892.
❖ Men
Prominent personalities who are
clearly represented in the
painting are Jose Rizal,
the artist, and Ariston
Bautista Lin. Other than
their very apparent physical
features, their mannerisms and
postures appeared to have been
captured therefore
accurately. The artist and Lin
—Bautista stare directly at
the direction of the
Parisian lady, who seems to be
disturbed by the accusatory
gaze. As gentle as he
was, Rizal seems to avoid
contact with the lady.
❖ Women
Aside to our motherland being
compared to the lady, some
experts suggest that
Luna might have projected
Paz through the Parisian
lady. Suspicions of the
adulterous relationship of his
wife, in his mind, have been
confirmed. Although
no evidence, in Luna’s mind,
there was a fixation.
As per what we can see, women
were being treated as an object
and human with a
lesser value than man at that
time is very rampant. Paris, as
per known as the sex
capital of the world way back in
19th century, women need to
live in constant
anxiety as they were always
being subjected to male gazes.
The unregistered
prostitute, who constituted a
growing labor force in Paris,
was regarded as “the
site of absolute degradation and
dominance, the place where the
body became at
last an exchange value, a perfect
and complete commodity”.
❖ Clothes on the sofa and
half-poured glass
This suggests that she was
being accompanied by a man
and waiting for him to
comeback because right beside
her were a trench coat with hat,
a male’s clothes
and the half-empty glass on her
table.
The newspaper L'Echo De Paris is folded up behind the lady. The newspaper stands for the Cry
of Bastille or the French Revolution, the inspiration of the Philippine Revolution. The French
aspirations of freedom, brotherhood and equality were the same as the Filipinos' longings.
Thus, the French Revolution, the echo of Paris, is clearly behind the disturbed state of the
motherland of the Philippines in 1892.

❖Men Prominent personalities who are clearly represented in the painting are Jose Rizal, the
artist, and Ariston Bautista Lin. Other than their very apparent physical features, their
mannerisms and postures appeared to have been captured therefore accurately. The artist and
Lin—Bautista stare directly at the direction of the Parisian lady, who seems to be disturbed
by the accusatory gaze. As gentle as he was, Rizal seems to avoid contact with the lady.

❖ Women Aside to our motherland being compared to the lady, some experts suggest that Luna
might have projected Paz through the Parisian lady. Suspicions of the adulterous
relationship of his wife, in his mind, have been confirmed. Although no evidence, in Luna’s
mind, there was a fixation. As per what we can see, women were being treated as an object and
human with a lesser value than man at that time is very rampant. Paris, as per known as the sex
capital of the world way back in 19th century, women need to live in constant anxiety as they
were always being subjected to male gazes. The unregisteredprostitute, who constituted a
growing labor force in Paris, was regarded as “thesite of absolute degradation and dominance,
the place where the body became atlast an exchange value, a perfect and complete
commodity”.❖Clothes on the sofa and half-poured glassThis suggests that she was being
accompanied by a man and waiting for him tocomeback because right beside her were a trench
coat with hat, a male’s clothesand the half-empty glass on her table.