Thonet Chairs Extras
More Thonet chair sightings, in art, comics, magazine covers, etc.
Introduction | Thonet Chairs in Movies | Thonet Chair Models
Title
Year
Artist
Image
Notes
Johann Strauss II at the Court Ball
1888
Theo Zasche
Detail
The chairs are Thonet No. 18
At the Moulin Rouge
1892-1895
Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec
Detail
The chairs are Thonet No. 18.
Fashionable People at Les Ambassadeurs (Aux Ambassadeurs: Gens Chic)
1893
Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec
Oil a 1'essence over black chalk on wove paper, mounted on cardboard.
Detail
Maybe modeled after a Thonet No. 18.
Historical Photo
1906
Gamblers
“Gamblers enjoying a game at the Faro table at the White Elephant Saloon in Bingham, Utah, 1906”
A Wild Bunch of drinkers Daily Mail (UK)
Original higher-resolution image courtesy of the Utah Historical Society.
Detail
The chair appears to be in the Thonet No. 19 group, with the upper inner loop shaped like the No. 14.
Interior with Thonet Chair
ca 1908
Sándor Galimberti
.jpg){kind=link}
Interior with a Violin Case
1918-1919
Henri Matisse
Detail
This is a Thonet No. 20.
Matisse included Thonet chairs in other paintings as well, for example, Woman with Umbrella 1919-1920 and Les Persiennes 1919.
Man Test Laboratory
1919
National Archives and Records Administration
Soldiers testing gas masks at the American University Experiment Station.
Public domain photo from the National Archives and Records Administration.
Detail
The chairs are Thonet No. 18.
Paris Café
1921
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
French chef Auguste Escoffier (left), seen here at a café in 1921, helped to found the Ritz Hotel, where Ernest Hemingway was a longtime regular.
Detail
Thonet No. 56 with later curved leg braces.
The Blue Lotus
1934-1935
Hergé
(Georges Remi)
Early in The Blue Lotus, in the Occidental Private Club, Thonet S 533 chairs, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Thonet in1927.
Later, in a hospital, Thomson is sitting on a Thonet No. 14, the classic Vienna café chair.
Tintin and the Picaros
1976
Hergé
(Georges Remi)
The coatstand Hergé illustrated on page 18 of Tintin and the Picaros is very similar to a Thonet Kleiderstock No. 4 and the Café Daum Kleiderstock. It’s a bit odd in the setting, a modern hotel room with modern furniture.
On page 58, two empty Thonet No. 18 chairs are shown, recently occupied by Thompson and Thomson.
The Broken Ear
1943
Hergé
(Georges Remi)
Tintin conversing with Don José Trujillo.
The chairs are Thonet B 34 armchairs.
Bad Time at Honda
1947
Robert Fawcett, Illustrator
The film Bad Day at Black Rock, 1955, was based on a 1947 short story Bad Time at Honda in The American Magazine written by Howard Breslin and illustrated by Robert Fawcett.
Detail
The three chairs in the foreground are Thonet No. 18.
Santa Rosa Free Public Library
Shadow of a Doubt, 1943
Storm Center, 1956
Shadow of a Doubt, 1943 Detail
Storm Center, 1956 Detail
Shadow of a Doubt was filmed on location in Santa Rosa, California, as was Storm Center, 1956.
Both films feature the ivy-covered exterior of the actual Santa Rosa Free Public Library. Interior library scenes in both films feature Thonet Chairs.
Compare the library’s main desk in the two films in these slightly cropped screenshots.
Femme Dans Un Rocking-Chair
1956
Pablo Picasso
Picasso painted several variations, all based on his own Thonet rocking chair.
Bentwood Rocking Chairs includes images of another Picasso painting and a photo of Picasso in his Thonet Rocking chair. The page also includes several Thonet rocking chairs in other paintings.
Thonet Chair and Carpet
1991
Avigdor Arikha
Thonet Chair and Carpet, by Avigdor Arikha, 1991
This is a Thonet No. 4, designed by Michael Thonet in 1849 for Café Daum in Vienna.
Summer Ending
2010
Raimonda Jatkeviciute Kasparaviciene
This Lithuanian painter has created several paintings featuring Thonet chairs. This one is a Thonet No. 14.
Taming Trump
2016
Barry Blitt
A Thonet No. 18 wielded by Kellyanne Conway
Illustration by Barry Blitt for:
Taming Trump
By Ryan Lizza
The New Yorker
10/17/2016 issue
The illustration appears to be inspired by one or more of the many photos of lion tamer Clyde Beatty performing with lions.
Most photos show him using a Thonet No. 18 (with the older circular leg brace), possibly because he could get his arm through the back and handle the chair with one arm.
© 2025 Stephen Hart