Olympia (painting)

Olympia is an oil on canvas painting by Édouard Manet. Painted in 1863, it measures 130.5 by 190 cm. The nation of France acquired the painting in 1890 with a public subscription organised by Claude Monet and is now in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Though Le déjeuner sur l'herbe sparked controversy in 1863, Olympia caused an even bigger uproar when it first exhibited at the 1865 Paris Salon. Conservatives condemned the work as "immoral" and "vulgar". Journalist Antonin Proust later recalled, "If the canvas of the Olympia was not destroyed, it is only because of the precautions that were taken by the administration."

However, the work had proponents as well. Emile Zola quickly proclaimed it Manet's "masterpiece" and added,

When other artists correct nature by painting Venus they lie. Manet asked himself why he should lie. Why not tell the truth?

The painting was inspired by Titian's Venus of Urbino, which refers to Giorgione's Venus Asleep[1]. Comparison is also made to Ingres' famous Odalisque (1801). But Manet did not depict a goddess or an odalisque, but a high-class prostitute waiting for a client. The classic work that most closely resembles Manet's in character is Francisco Goya's La Maja Desnuda (c. 1800).

The painting deviates from the academic canon in its style, characterized by broad, quick brushstrokes, studio lighting that eliminates mid-tones, large color surfaces and shallow depth. Instead of a smooth, idealised nude, Manet painted a "real" woman, whose nakedness is revealed in all its brutality by the harsh light, compared to Alexandre Cabanel's La naissance de Vénus, also painted in 1863.

External links

• The Shock of the Nude: Manet's Olympia by PBS
• An Eye on Art: Manet's Olympia.