Manet - Olympia - Analysis - Stage 6 HSC

Introductory Analysis of Manet’s ‘Olympia’
“This work is IMMORAL!”

“This work is VULGAR!”
cried conservative critics
‘Olympia’
Edouard Manet
1863
Oil on Canvas
130.5 x 190cm
Musee d’Orsay, Paris
orchid
black ribbon
gold cuff & earrings

cast-off slipper
oriental shawl
Symbols of WEALTH and brazen SEXUALITY indicate Manet’s subject is a PROSTITUTE.

Controversy surrounding ‘Olympia’ is that she is NAKED, not NUDE, clothing items tell
viewers she is a courtesan, departing from the times acceptable GODDESS depiction of
the nude female body.
‘Olympia’ ‘Venus of Urbino’, Titian, 1538
Edouard Manet Oil on Canvas, 119 x 165 cm, Uffizi, Florence
1863
Oil on Canvas
130.5 x 190cm
Musee d’Orsay, Paris
Manet’s ‘Olympia’ painting draws

much reference from Titian’s ‘Venus
of Urbino’, which in turn, references
Giorgione’s ‘Sleeping Venus’
‘Sleeping Venus’, Giorgione, c. 1510

Oil on Canvas, 108.5 cm × 175 cm, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
Manet’s Titian’s
Courtesan Goddess
The hand in ‘Olympia’ assertively protects her sexual assets to

emphasise the subjects sexual dominance over men as well as her
independence. Where as, in Titian's ‘Venus’ the hand modestly covers
her genitalia.
Manet replaced the little dog (symbol of fidelity) in Titian's painting

with a black cat (prostitution symbol)..
I am but a common woman,
a courtesan; but here, in
Manet’s painting, it is I, not
a Goddess, who is revered
Manet’s ‘Olympia’ challenged its audience, as it places a COMMON WOMAN of DUBOUS

CHARACTER in the SPOTLIGHT; here she replaces the traditional ‘goddess’ icon as the
object of BEAUTY and CONTEMPLATION.
The classical composition, of ‘Olympia’ follows tradition; it is the ‘HERE and NOW’
contemporary setting in conjunction with replacing the Goddess subject with a
common woman that makes the work REVOLUTIONARY and CONTROVERSIAL.
Formerly, the MODEL’S PERSONA was mostly irrelevant, she merely played a subservient
role as bodily reference for a Goddess. In Manet’s ‘Olympia’ it is the MODEL HERSELF
whom is REVERED.
My name is
Victorine
Louise
Meurent
Manet’s Model: Victorine Louise Meurent

A French PAINTER in her own right, was Miss Meurent, born into a family of artisans, she
frequently exhibited at the PARIS SALON. Coincidently, this is where ‘Olympia’ was first
Shown. In 1876 Meurent’s paintings were CHOSEN FOR INCLUSION and interestingly Manet’s
was not. Meurant’s paintings were in a more AUDIENCE-FRIENDLY ACADEMIC STYLE.
Allegedly, Maurent was Manet’s favourite model, posing for‘The Street Singer’,
’Luncheon on the Grass’ and ’Olympia’, among others. Mauret also modelled for many other
artists of the time including DEGAS and TOULOUSE-LAUTREC.
THE MAIDS IN MANET’S ‘OLYMPIA’ AND TITIAN’S ‘SLEEPING VENUS’
Artwork precedents that present a NUDE being attended by a BLACK SERVANT from this time
include INGRE’S ‘Odalisque with a Slave’ and JALABERT’S ’,Odalisque’.
In Manet’s ‘Olympia’, the courtesan CARES NOT TO ACKNOWLEDGE either her MAID or the
FLOWERS she presents, it is speculated that the flowers are an OFFERING are from an
OVERLY EAGER CLIENT.
Two maids can be identified in Titian’s ‘Sleeping Venus’ and are thought to be DELVING for
CLOTHING to adorn Venus, unlike the maid in ‘Olympia’ their eyes are NOT expecting a
RESPONDING gaze.
‘Manet's Olympia’ poem by Margaret Atwood
She reclines, more or less,
Try that posture, it's hardly languor.
Her right arm sharp angles.
With her left she conceals her ambush.
Shoes but not stockings,
how sinister. The flower
behind her ear is naturally
not real, of a piece
with the sofa's drapery.
The windows (if any) are shut.
This is indoor sin.
Above the head of the (clothed) maid
is an invisible voice balloon: Slut.
But. Consider the body,

unfragile, defiant, the pale nipples
staring you right in the bull's eye.
Consider also the black ribbon
around the neck. What's under it?
A fine red threadline, where the head
was taken off and glued back on.
The body's on offer,
but the neck's as afar as it goes.
This is no morsel.
Put clothes on her and you'd have a schoolteacher,
the kind with the brittle whiphand.
There's someone else in this room.

You, Monsieur Voyeur.
As for that object of yours
she's seen those before, and better.
I, the head, am the only subject

of this picture.
You, Sir, are furniture.
Get stuffed.
Margaret Atwood, Morning in the Burned House: New Poems (1995).

SUMMARY QUESTIONS:
Q. What PROP AND CLOTHING SYMBOLISM can you now identify in the image?
Q. Why is Olympia thought of as NAKED as opposed to NUDE?
Q. Consider the GAZE of the Subject – Is the subject AWARE of the VIEWER’S presence?
Where is the subject LOOKING? Do you think the subject would APPROVE or OBJECT to
being the SPECTACLE of the gaze? WHO is in a POSITION OF POWER – the SUBJECT? Or the
VIEWER?
Q. COMPARE and CONTRAST Manet’s ‘Olympia’ and Titians ‘Sleeping Venus’ using a Venn
diagram
Yasumasa Morimura. Olympia. 1999. Photography Kate Barry, Victorine Meurent, 2009, Performance

Manet - Olympia - Analysis - Stage 6 HSC

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Introductory Analysis of Manet’s ‘Olympia’

“This work is IMMORAL!”

gold cuff & earrings

Symbols of WEALTH and brazen SEXUALITY indicate Manet’s subject is a PROSTITUTE.

Manet’s ‘Olympia’ painting draws

‘Sleeping Venus’, Giorgione, c. 1510

The hand in ‘Olympia’ assertively protects her sexual assets to

Manet replaced the little dog (symbol of fidelity) in Titian's painting

Manet’s ‘Olympia’ challenged its audience, as it places a COMMON WOMAN of DUBOUS

Manet’s Model: Victorine Louise Meurent

But. Consider the body,

There's someone else in this room.

I, the head, am the only subject

Margaret Atwood, Morning in the Burned House: New Poems (1995).

Q. Why is Olympia thought of as NAKED as opposed to NUDE?

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