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This work, though one of Manet's most successful, may in fact be a critique of art at the time.

Manet made no attempt to hide the fact that the artist was painted in the studio, surrounded by props. The guitar is strung for (and emphasized with the fretboard layout) to be for a right-handed player, even though the musician is holding it as if he were left-handed. He also appears to be unfamiliar with the configuration of the strings, as emphasized by his awkward stance and odd finger-placement being a focus of the backlighting. Also, this singer is of no importance, cleverly hidden by the fact that Paris was experiencing a popularity of Spanish culture of the time.

In 1860 new works were being created that were shunned by the traditional art community which valued dull colors, recognizable subjects, and painting indoors among other things. Here, Manet is disguising his distaste of these traditions in such a way that those that valued the old ways enjoyed the work, and those that opposed it were keenly aware of the statement it was making.

It would be 3 years later that the Salon of the Rejected was put on at the behest of Napoleon, where the works of artists like Monet were finally seen by a public ready for something new. This work is uncommonly expressive and an achievement of one of the forebearers of Impressionism.