THIS IS NOT MODERN ART

Chloé, 1875

Jules-Joseph Lefebvre

Oil on canvas

Melbourne is a city that loves three things: art, beer and women.  (I have, for the sake of my argument, not included all of Melbourne’s other loves: Football and sport of all kinds, beer, coffee, chicken parmagianas, beer, being self-referential, trivia nights, beer, itself, and feeling superior.) Here we’ve found ways to combine all three, art in pubs!

I’d like you to meet one of my favourite Melbournians. Chloé,  painted by Jules-Joseph Lefebvre.

The lovely and demure Cholé has been housed in one of the most famous pubs in Melbourne since 1909. Now it is up for debate whether Young & Jackson made Cholé famous or if the pub became famous thanks to Chloé. My guess is the later. But then I would say that. She is hung in her very own namesake bar and has been friend and companion to a wide range of drunks. Perhaps that’s why she looks away- she has seen TOO MUCH.