Manet's Olympia

It takes one person with a radical, innovative idea, who is willing to pursue it despite ridicule, to change the world. When it comes to the concept of modernism in the 19th century art world, Edouard Manet did just that. The concept of modernity, or seeing the conditions of the physical world as they are, along with the rejection of traditional ideas, was the term that led to the exploration of modernism art in the 19th century. Up until this point, traditional, idealistic, Academic art was the epitome of true, talented artwork. Edouard Manet challenged this notion with the way he painted, despite the ridicule he received by society and other artists of the time. In regards to his highly controversial painting, Olympia, Manet used unconventional
Keeping this in mind, as well as having knowledge of the painting by Titian titled Venus of Orbino, one can easily begin to see that Manet seems to be imitating this traditional Titian painting, but with a twist. Manet doesn’t paint this woman with the same sense of submissiveness as Titian’s painting. Her face has a directness about it, an assertive poise. Society found this disturbing, rebellious, and simply offensive. Along with this, paintings at this time were to be of historical, religious, or mythological figures. Every day, random people in the public eye were not considered to be a sufficient or accepted model to use in a painting. This was just the beginning of reasons this painting was rejected by the people of its
When comparing this piece to Poussin’s Death of Germanicus painting, it is quite obvious how the figures look quite different from one another. Poussin continues with the traditional tendency to use tonal modeling while painting figures, while Manet disregards that completely and leaves his figures with a stark and marble looking skin tone. In Poussin’s work, every muscle and bone is detailed and shown; every shadow that touches their skin is accurately portrayed. In Manet’s Olympia, the flesh seems almost hard like stone. Viewers of this piece at the time it was created felt that this was not only “bad” art, but they also considered it to be revolting because of how stern her body was painted and positioned. It was quite the opposite of appealing. Just as Manet rejected the idea of tonal modeling with his figures, he also rejected the idea of having a realistic light source in his work. In Olympia, the woman’s whole bed and body are illuminated, while everything behind them are in the high contrasted, dark. All of these aspects of nontraditional painting were presumed to be wrong and were not tolerated well by the public. Some would even say, the public was offended by seeing something that so accurately displayed everyday life in Paris at the