Olympia (1863)

Olympia (1863)

Manet, Édouard (1832-1883)

Olympia
1863
Oil on canvas, 130.5 x 191 cm
Musée d’OrsayParis

When Edouard Manet’s painting Olympia was exhibited in Paris in 1865, it was met by the critics and general public with jeers, laughter, criticism, and distain. Manet had depicted his model, Victorine Meurent, as a modern day courtesan, confrontational rather than seductive. Manet’s depiction of a prostitute’s body in a contemporary setting was a radical rejection of the idealized beauty of the traditional female nude. Olympia forced recognition of troubled and contradictory attitudes toward prostitution in the mid-19th century, much to the discomfort of contemporary audiences. The artist made an etching in 1867 to reproduce his controversial painting. (CMA)

Compare:

Manet, Édouard (1832-1883)
Olympia
1867
Cleveland Museum of ArtCleveland

 

 

Copies:

Cézanne, Paul (1839-1906)
Une moderne Olympia
18731874
Musée d’OrsayParis

 

 

Gachet, Paul (1828-1909)
Une moderne Olympia, copie d’après Cézanne
s.d.
Musée d’OrsayParis

 

 

Olympia in the Portrait of Zola:

Portrait d'Émile Zola (1868)Manet, Édouard (1832-1883)
Portrait d’Émile Zola
1868
Musée d’OrsayParis

 

 

See also:

Meurent, Victorine (1844-1927)