Édouard ManetFrench, 1832–1883Olympia
About the work
In the museum's own words — in Dutch
Naakte liggende vrouw als Olympia op een bed ondersteund door kussens in haar rug. Naast het bed staat een zwarte vrouw, haar bediende, en op het voeteneind van het bed staat een kat.
Rijksmuseum
Particulars
- Accession number
- RP-P-1947-4
Meanwhile, in the life of Édouard Manet
The whole life1865
“Olympia” at the Salon: a scandal
In 1865 the Salon accepted “Olympia”, and the frank depiction of a self-assured prostitute created a scandal; according to Antonin Proust, only the precautions taken by the administration prevented the painting from being punctured and torn. The popular press caricatured it, while the avant-garde, including Courbet, Cézanne and Monet, championed it.
after 1865
Café Guerbois and the Batignolles group
After returning from Spain Manet became a regular at the Café Guerbois in the Batignolles quarter, where Fantin-Latour, Whistler, Duranty, Degas, Renoir, Monet and Pissarro gathered, with Émile Zola as Manet's ardent defender. After harsh reproaches from Duranty, Manet challenged him to a duel and wounded him, but they made up and remained good friends until Manet's death.
1865
Flight to Spain: El Greco, Velázquez, Goya
The persecution after “Olympia” forced Manet to flee, almost literally, to Spain, where he spent his time to good purpose, getting to know the works of El Greco, Velázquez and Goya and finding in them a justification of his own aesthetic taste.
1867
His own pavilion near the Pont de l'Alma
In 1867, during the World's Fair in Paris, Manet set up his own pavilion near the Pont de l'Alma and showed fifty of his best works of the past ten years. Possibly this step led to his works being accepted at the next two Salons.
1867
