The Execution of Emperor Maximilian by Édouard Manet, 1867-68

What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “The Execution of Emperor Maximilian by Édouard Manet, 1867-68”?

Most of it’s true, aside from the parts that are conjecture, poorly researched, and, if my parents are reading this, the shoplifting.

I’m not sure why I found the painting so meaningful as a teenager – I never even knew the story behind it until very recently – but I still have that postcard and it still makes me feel things. Something about the missing pieces, the jigsaw effect, the fact that the subject isn’t even in the picture, the way it forces you to imagine the violence of it.

It had been on my list of ideas to write about for a while, and when I started looking into the history of the painting, its influences and legacy, it made sense to try to build it around the Journal of Compressed Creative Arts triptych model: a bastardised series of footnotes based on emotional response and train of thought rather than academic analysis.

I started with the middle column and the other two slowly emerged either side the deeper I got into my research. It was a bit like a dot-to-dot puzzle to write; every line needed to connect to some other part of the piece and most of my edits were concerned with finding a sense of counterbalance. There are definitely more than three sections, but each column should lead a path through the others until – hopefully – you’re tangled up in 153 years of art history, revolution, and morbid teen daydreams.