Manet, Édouard (1832-1883)
Olympia
1863
Oil on canvas, 130.5 x 191 cm
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
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 Art, Cleveland
Copies:
Cézanne, Paul (1839-1906)
Une moderne Olympia
1873–1874
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Gachet, Paul (1828-1909)
Une moderne Olympia, copie d’après Cézanne
s.d.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Olympia in the Portrait of Zola:
Manet, Édouard (1832-1883)
Portrait d’Émile Zola
1868
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
See also:
• Meurent, Victorine (1844-1927)