Summary

The third section of The Man in the Red Coat first lists famous names and works which recurred frequently “in the fin-de-siecle” (102) litany: Flaubert, Baudelaire, Gustave Moreau, and more. Barnes dedicates several pages to an exploration of Moreau’s exotic paintings which Flaubert drew upon in his later writings: the Belle Époque went through a phase of worshipping art that was decadent not in the European style, but in what they called the ‘Asiatique’ style. Yet, the museum of Moreau’s works established upon his death does not age well, says Barnes: very soon, artists like Degas found that the style was no longer ‘modern’ or fascinating, and the museum “closer to a mausoleum” (107).

Next, Barnes looks at John Singer Sargent’s painting, ‘Madame X,’ in which a pale and haughty woman gives the viewer her side profile while beguilingly twisting one arm...