This is an audio-only version of a talk given by Colm Toíbín at the Courtauld Gallery in London. If you want to transfer this to an mp3 player, click on the download mp3 link above. (Mac users - hold down the CTRL key when you click on the link.) If you are using an iPod with a screen, a reproduction of Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère will be displayed.

To view Colm Toibin's illustrated talk on your computer, click here.

Recorded as part of Picture This at Somerset House – Writers' talks in the Courtauld Gallery. Initiated by Ruth Padel.

Paul Cézanne, Route Tournante, 1902-06 © The Samuel Courtauld Trust/The Courtauld Gallery