How Manet Shocked the Art World

Edward Manet' painting Olympia is about breaking the celebrated art conventions of his time period. When this painting went on display in 1865 at The Salon, the shock was enough that the museum hired two armed guards to stand watch of it at all times. Manet had chosen to shock the world with an untraditional subject. Manet's contention was that art of the period had grown stale and he strove to change this with Olympia. Instead of following the accepted art conventions of his time period and choosing a model with a historical, bibilical or mythical theme, Manet chooses to paint a woman of his own time instead. If that is not forward enough, he chooses to paint a real woman, not a feminine ideal of a woman. He also paints his subject in a new way. In summary, Manet paints an uncommon theme in an uncommon way, which is enough to shcok the world in France in 1865.

How did Manet manage to shock the art world? "What he did was to paint a classical composition and place it in a contemporary setting. He used a contemporary woman who does not have a noble background, a commoner so to speak. The contention during Manet's time was that a common woman could not be the subject of great art" (Wallace). In other words, Manet painted a common woman, a real woman. Many people thought that only a royal subject could make good art, but Manet proved them wrong.

To look at the painting today, viewers might wonder what is so shocking about her. Obviously she is nude for the most part and yet her hand is placed in just the right way as to not be obscene. Olympia wears a simple black ribbon around her neck. She wears a slipper on her left foot as though the rigght one has just fallen off. Her mouth is just one step away from a smile. Her eyes look rather sleepily drowsy. She seems to be offering an invitation to the viewer, almost a come-hither look. She may be a lover or even a prostitute, but she is very wordly. She is not young or inexperienced. She is a wordly, common woman. "She was unlike any naked lady who'd ever gone before. She wasn't Eve in the Garden or Venus on a foamy bed of waves. She wasn't a goddess or an angel or a shy bather caught off guard. She was a contemporary woman -- unabashed, unclad, unmistakably unallegorical. Her name was Victorine Meurent, but Édouard Manet called her Olympia. And she changed everything" (Willaims) She is not embarrassed of posing nude. In previous art like the Mona Lisa or The Girl With the Pearl Earring, the women are shy or bashful. However, Olympia is neither of these. "To the wealthy collectors of art and women, who regarded both as possessions, Olympia stripped them of their illusions. Her body is ripe for the taking, but everything else, including the meaning behind that enigmatic almost-smile, she's keeping for herself" (Williams). She quite literally holds the reader under her spell. The African-American maid is in the dark background, but she is not what catches the eye. The vibrant flowers she holds are the only spot of brightness amidst a dark background, but they do not hold the eye either. It is the gaze of the woman that holds the viewer, alluring and just daring the viewer to look even longer. The beautiful taupe-colored floral underneath the woman is placed very well. But mostly she lays on white sheets and lush white bedding to set her off all the more. The slight sneer is truly what holds the viewer. She is not in any way apologetic but almost happy to be posing for this picture. The orange flower in her hair sets off the arrogant stance even more. She is clearly a real woman to be reckoned with.

Not just the subject matter was unique, the way Manet paints her is new too. As Williams says: "And he paints her in his own manner: in place of the smooth shading of the great masters, his forms are painted quickly, in rough brushstrokes clearly visible on the surface of the canvas. Instead of the carefully constructed perspective that leads the eye deep into the space of the painting, Manet offers a picture frame flattened into two planes" These two planes are the white body of Olympus on the bed and the darkness of the background. Her body is shown under a single light with slight shadows showing" (Williams). What he leads to is another reason why the painting is so unique. He is a forerunner to the French school of Impressionism with is innovative technique of rough brushstrokes.

Manet was clearly a groundbreaker with this painting. As Williams says: "His innovative techniques and unconventionally ordinary choices of subject matter eventually ignited a new generation of artists. Though he refused to label himself as such, his successors hailed him as the father of impressionism. He was among the vanguard to glorify not the figures of myth, but the radiance of absinthe drinkers, suicides and prostitutes" (Williams). Some see this painting as the first modern painting. "In painting reality as he sees it, Manet challenges the accepted function of art in France, which is to glorify history and the French state, and creates what some consider the first modern painting." (pbs) His model Victorine Meurent is shown as a prostitute. Not that people of Manet's tiem did not frequent prostitutes but they certainly did not paint them. She is a real woman with flaws, not a subject generally accepted in the France of 1865.

Works Cited

Culture Shock. Retrieved May 13, 2007 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/olympia_a.html
Wallace, Natasha. Manet's Olympia in Juxtaposition. Retrieved May 13, 2007 at http://jssgallery.org/Other_Artists/Manet/Olympia.html
Williams, Mary. Manet's Olympia. Retrieved May 13, 2007 at http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/masterpiece/2002/05/13/olympia/index.html