Les Petits Secrets des grands tableaux – Femmes à la terrasse d’un cafe le soir (1977) de Degas

This chiaroscuro social painting is a remarkable human record of late nineteenth-century Paris, its inhabitants and its private geography at a time of huge social and moral change. Degas’ constant flitting between genres and from back-stage to front of stage enabled him to capture the fleeting nature of existence while creating an everlasting image of Paris.