Olympia

Date

1863

Description

Creator of the image: Edouard Manet
Date of the image creation: 1863
Medium of the image: Oil on canvas
Person depicted: Olympia, as modelled by Victorine Meurent

The painting depicts Victorine Meurent, a model, and artist in her own right. She reclines lying on an oriental shawl and large luscious pillows. The image is modelled on the Italian master Titan’s 1538 painting, Venus of Urbino. Manet took this image and reworked and subverted it in Olympia. Manet’s artwork caused shock and controversy when first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1865 — not for the nudity, which was common enough, but for Olympia’s confrontational gaze and the series of symbols which revealed her to be a prostitute. These symbols include the orchid in her hair, the black ribbon around her neck, and her jewellery.

Titan’s unapologetically erotic depiction of a goddess shows Venus reclining, looking straight at the viewer, with her left hand suggestively near her genitals. By contrast, Manet’s Olympia has her left hand across her groin, blocking the line of sight, an action which can be interpreted as an independence. This independence is evident in her facial expression as well. She gazes squarely back at the viewer in an uncompromising and confident manner. Olympia's independence, her status as a prostitute, and her penetrating gaze combine to make a powerful artwork.

Edouard Manet (1832–1883) was considered one of the first modernist painters and a key figure in nineteenth-century art history. His masterwork Olympia, painted relatively early in his career, was seen as a watershed moment in the rise of Impressionism, and a key moment in the rise of Modernism.

The painting is held in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

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