Édouard Manet and asparagus for 800 francs

One of the 19th-century art collectors, Charles Ephrussi (1849–1905), on whom Proust based the character Swann, purchased Édouard Manet’s painting A Sprig of Asparagus in 1880 for 800 francs.

Édouard Manet, Une botte d’asperges, 1880, 46 × 55 cm, Wallraf Richartz Museum, Cologne.

He was so fascinated by the painting that he paid the artist 1000 francs.

Unable to pass up such an opportunity, Manet quickly painted a picture of a single asparagus and sent it to him with a note:

“One asparagus fell out of the bundle.”

Édouard Manet, L’Asperge 1880, 16.9 × 21.9 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.