EDGAR DEGAS: “L'absinthe (absinthe drinkers)", 1876 - oil on canvas, 92-68 cm. - Musée d’Orsay, Paris

"What a slut!", George Moore commented about the woman in this painting, adding that "the tale is not a pleasant one, but it is a lesson", and also that "no one has said so much in so little space, and no one has expressed in such a simple way (...) thanks to the science of the drawing, invisible but omnipresent, almost impersonal". The sad and melancholic "Absinthe drinkers" appears to have influenced works of later artists, such as Picasso's interiors from the Blue Period, or Edward Hopper's urban scenes.

PAUL CÉZANNE: “The Card Players”, 1893-96 - oil on canvas, 47- 56 cm. - Paris, Musée d'Orsay

This is the smallest of the three versions of this subject painted by Paul Cézanne, but it is quite probable that it was also the last of them, and the most elaborated. While the composition is really simple (two players facing each other, with a black bottle silently dividing the composition in two parts) the fabulous psychological intensity in the faces of the players make this painting a masterpiece of post-impressionist art.