The Emotional Edgar Degas: Waiting, Boredom, and Expectation in Degas’ L’Absinthe

Abstract

This article reinterprets Edgar Degas’ L’Absinthe (1875–1876) as a complex study of emotion rather than merely a work of social critique. It argues that the painting foregrounds the interrelated experiences of waiting, boredom, and frustrated expectation, central to Degas’ depiction of modern life. Through comparison with Waiting (L’Attente) (1880–1882) and other works, the article highlights the importance of Degas’ ‘double-subject’ compositions, in which paired figures generate temporal and emotional tension. Waiting is presented as an anticipatory state tied to expectation, while boredom emerges when expectation is diminished or deferred. In L’Absinthe, the female figure embodies a condition in which expectation is not absent but blunted, producing a more complex emotional state than the conventional ‘situational’ boredom seen in works such as Manet’s La Prune. Degas thus offers a nuanced representation of modern emotional life that anticipates later notions of existential boredom.