Painted in 1876, the scene of Degas' 'L'Absinthe' shows a woman and a man seated side by side in a Parisian café, their bodies close but disconnected, the woman with an empty stare and a glass of absinthe before her. The work reflects Degas' bleak view of modern life, shaped by his own misanthropic tendencies. When it was first exhibited in France in 1876, it was met with an outrage, with critics calling it ugly and disgusting. It would be exhibited one more time at the third Impressionist exhibit in 1877, before disappearing from the public view for 15 years, when it appeared at an auction in London. Even 15 years later, the English did not find it any better, with critics taking it as "blow to morality" – viewing it as a moral lesson in the vices of absinthe and leading the bohemian lifestyle of the French artists.