Nudity, Art and Scandal in Paris! “Olympia” by Edouard Manet
“Good artists copy. Great artists steal”
---Pablo Picasso
“Olympia.” 1863. Musee d’Orsay. Paris.
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What is it about this bare naked lady that drove Parisians to near riot in 1865? It’s not like they hadn’t been exposed to naked females in art before. Certainly, Paris with its sophistication and love of artistic expression would seem to be an unlikely place for such hysterical fits.
But fits they were! The work’s showing at the Musee d’Orsay was greeted with outrage, catcalls, derision by art critics and hurled insults such as “yellow-bellied Odalisque” and “female gorilla.” Armed guards were placed next to it out of fears that it might be damaged or destroyed and it was placed high up, out of the reach of gentlemen’s canes.
The press delighted in piling on, publishing caricature cartoons such as this
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Olympia was a different kind of nude in art to Parisians of that time. Her slightly jaundiced skin was a shock to the senses of a populace that was used to seeing the female nude presented in creamy white toned skin and certainly without the hint of hair under her arm, as Manet does.
No, the difference was that Manet had painted a nude that was not idealized or allegorical. Furthermore, she is unabashed about her nudity, and her pose and gaze suggests that she was available only on her own terms. And she is presented frankly, as a prostitute or a mistress who is daringly lying in bed to have sex. Perhaps the real scandal here was that she was turning the “male gaze” on its head. In fact, she is looking directly at the viewer, unusual for women subjects except in portraits of a queen or other powerful women, such as a duchess.
To heighten the senses further, she is pictured languidly touching the silken shawl she lies upon. She is strategically adorned with a thin black ribbon around her neck, a bracelet on her arm, an exotic flower in her hair, earrings, and one slipper -- has she kicked off the other just to entice the viewer with her abandon even more?
Manet fully intended this painting to be his own version of Titian’s “Venus of Urbino.” Art historian Bruce Cole points out that Titian was a lodestar for painters of Manet’s day. In his book “Titian and Venetian Painting, 1450-1590,“ Cole writes of Manet visiting Florence and painting a copy of the masterpiece while he was there.
1538. Galleria degli Uffizi. Florence
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(Note Venus’s slightly tucked chin compared to Olympia’s steady, confident chin.)
Its predecessor was by Giorgione in 1510 (and finished by Titian)
Sleeping Venus. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. Dresden
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Titian’s Venus, commissioned by the Duke of Urbino, was perhaps an instructional for the Duke’s new16 year old wife. It’s eroticism was intended for private display and remained the the Duke’s family until 1637. It was placed in the Uffizi in 1736, but discreetly covered to keep it out of prurient view, given the subject’s materiality and sensuality.
Mark Twain managed to find and see it there in 1880. He described it as “the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest (sic) picture the world possesses” and complained about the “attitude” of her arm and hand. In fact, that “attitude” in all three of these paintings is a gesture well known by art historians as the “venus pudica,” which describes the covering of the woman’s pubis with her hand and goes back to ancient Greek sculpture and Renaissance masterpieces.
The Birth of Venus. Sandro Botticelli. c.1486. Uffizi. Florence.
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No such gesture was required of male nudes, however.
It is helpful, as always, to know the historical context in terms of the social issues at the time “Olympia” was exhibited. Rampant prostitution (with the resulting spread of syphilis) in Paris was regarded as a very serious social problem. The “service” was initially intended for young, unmarried agricultural workers who had started to work in Paris, and it quickly became uncontrolled. The courtesans in the highest level of society were considered particularly subversive as their increasing power to make their own transactions was seen to corrupt and subvert money and therefore the new capitalism of the early 1800s. The new bourgeousie were sexually repressed, very much for political and economic reasons.
Manet had to know that he was painting at the edges of political correctness of his day, even though he was a reluctant rebel, saying that he just painted what he saw. Perhaps so, but even his dramatic use of black and light accentuates the picture’s radical intensity. The black woman looms in darkness, bringing a brightly lit bouquet of flowers (implying a gift from a client but ignored by Olympia herself) to the luxuriant white pillowed bed. The black cat (replacing the little dog, symbolizing marital fidelity, at the feet of Titian’s Venus) arches its back with its tail in air, another defiant sexual connotation in the painting.
Manet also had to know that he was defying social norms by painting this work, and then by exhibiting it in the Paris Salon two years later. But he may not have realized that the critics and the public simply were not able to take it in stride and cope with it, in terms of analysis or understanding what they were dealing with. Perhaps they, and Manet himself, just did not know what to say in the aftermath.
NOTE: an added ironic twist to this story is that Manet’s model, Victorine Meurent, was no courtesan but was herself an artist and musician. Titian’s model, on the other hand, was.
These two paintings were exhibited together in 2005 at the Doge’s Palace in Venice. It had fulfilled a dream of art historians to see them side by side and, since Italian regulations prohibit the Venus of Urbino from leaving the country, Manet’s work had to go to Italy.
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= new reply since forum marked as read
I always enjoy reading your posts on these works of art. And what works they are!
Thank you for furthering my education.
K&R
Last edited Fri Jul 24, 2015, 10:13 PM - Edit history (1)
others if the subject happens to come up on Jeopardy one evening. 
Of the two, Titian's is more lush, but I prefer the directness of Manet's. Titian's Venus strikes me as sly but I'm not sure why.
and I appreciate what you bring to D.U. 
So informative. And so beautiful.
Thanks, my friend.
I love how art can make people a little crazy...
even more than German and Jane Austen.
A Clemens quote upon his leaving the NY Met on a performance of a Wagner opera. He certainly did not like Wagner.
I have tried to post this response three times, but every time I click to a different tab to look something up, my entry and all the text and links disappear.
What I have tried to post is that I love Puccini. Two of the greatest opera recordings ever made were Puccini.
1. La Boheme - Sir Thomas Beecham conducting. With Jussi Björling and Victoria del Los Angeles. A cast, conductor, and orchestra that was put together at last notice. An amazing performance, certainly the best of this work ever recorded.
2. Tosca - Victor di Sabata conducting. With Callas and Gobbi, it is an incredible performance with Maria Callas in top form. Again, the top of the top.
3. Bach, Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould, 1955. I can listen to this over and over again. The virtuosity and interpretation says that even old Bach would be astounded.
And Mozart? Try Giulini conducting his operas. I recommend Le Nozze di Figaro with Schwarzkoph and Moffo.
If Safari did not utterly suck, I would have links to performances. Just Google Tosca di Sabata and La Böheme Beecham and you'll get them.
BTW, I also love Solti's Wagner's Ring cycle, recorded in the late fifties to sixties. All 19 CDs of it!
My thing is audio arts, your is visual. Somehow we seem to be meeting between. That's good.
Sorry for all the edits. As I said Safari utterly sucks.
Breaks my heart every time. On the other hand, you ought to hear her sing "This is Tosca's kiss" and "Oh Scarpia! Avanti a dio!" As she plunges into the Tiber.
but neither one had the best instrument and lost their voices before their time. Personally, I prefer the Tosca of her biggest rival, Renata Tebaldi and Montserrat Caballe.
Here's an interesting video of Montserrat talking about Maria, they were friends. It's in Spanish with English subtitles.
Montserrat's full version of the aria. Notice her fantastic breath control and the beauty of her voice. Brava!!!
Renata Tebaldi's version. Callas' biggest rival, although Tebaldi mostly ignored her. She had a magnificent instrument, but when she was not singing she was happy being home with her husband and children. Callas loved to create drama, Tebaldi did not.
His house is there, altho it was closed for renovation and repair the very day I visited.
Lucca is a lovely walled town near Florence. No cars allowed within the walls and folks just get around on foot or bikes...they even have their very own golden pasta...
With Carlo Maria Giulini's wonderfully understated orchestral underpinnings. My favorite Le Nozze. Cossotto, playing a character who appears prominently in all the acts, is more important to the comedy than some of the majors. I have seen Von Stada play this role at the Met. But Cossotto nails this one.
And her version of the first act aria, "Non so piu cosa son"
And yes, Cherubino is a pants role, where a mezzo-soprano plays an over-sexed adolescent boy. And in Le Nozze, boy is Cherubino over-sexed. That is why it is such an important role in this comedic farce and why many focus on this performance in this opera. The brat is everywhere!
Another wonderful singer and one of the best mezzos of her generation.
People who are dipping their toes in the operatic world tend to prefer lighter fare like bel canto. I like Puccini a lot, but my favorite Italian opera composer is the unsurpassed Giuseppe Verdi. The list of his works is extensive: Aida, Otello, La Traviata, Nabucco, Rigoletto, Un Ballo in Maschera, Ernani, Macbeth and more. All these works are the bread and butter of most opera houses. Along with Bizet's Carmen, Puccini's operas and a few of Rossini's works (Barber of Seville, La Cenerentola and L'italiani in Algeri come to mind).
Or as I wrote above when Samuel Clemens was quoted upon leaving the NY Met Opera House after a Wagner opus. "Wagner's music isn't as bad as it sounds."
Myself, I love Wagner's Ring. Especially the old recordings. Solti's is the best, IMHO.
When it comes to music, ones taste is within ones mouth.
I am a huge fan of 50's classical recordings. And of the di Sabata/Callas Tosca. Some may have done Tosca better, but there are few who had both Callas and Tito Gobbi as Scarpia.
Here's the deal. It is not about one individual performance, but how the ensemble works as a whole. There have been many Toscas, and quite a few have been better than Callas. However, her 1953 recording with de Sabata has the distinction of being one of the greatest of the opus because of the cast, orchestra, and conductor just simply work together.
It's like Giulini's Don Giovanni or Beecham's La Böheme with Jussi Björling and Victoria de Los Angeles.
Sometimes forces of nature come together to make a perfect storm.
One can pick at the edges but nobody can credibly claim that the whole is diminished in these iconic recordings.
Try Glenn Gould's 1955 Goldberg Variations, another iconic recording, just like Callas' Tosca, de Los Angeles and Björling's La Böheme. And like Solti's Ring cycle. And like Barbirolli's Elgar Cello concerto (with Jacqueline duPre) and Mahler Fifth.
There are many iconic recordings, performances which go far beyond individual performances but have a ensemble which just works well for a particular work or composer. My list of such things is quite long and goes back decades.
None is perfect. All one requires with music, or any art, is that one is moved by it. And one chooses their favorites.
My best to you.
It is a fairly simple story. The music is fantastic. It is not too long. The basic plot is easy to understand -- the opera is over when the last character dies.
I LOVE Tosca. It's my favorite Puccini opera.
we were regular subscribers. When I was growing up in Dallas, my aunt took me to operas when they visited. She would have her libretto and follow the opera along. I will always remember those libretti,they were rather elegant...Oh, and I had "opera length gloves" to wear also! Does anybody still remember those gloves?
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It's a large work and it's impacting. Olympia is looking straight at the viewer. Renaissance nudes of women were mostly allegorical and represented either the Madonna or Greek goddesses. Olympia is a real woman, looking straight at her lover. She's not afraid of her femininity and the effect that it has on men. She owns her sexuality. That in itself was scandalous in an era where men had mistresses, but decent women were expected to be virginal until marriage. Even then, moral women were not supposed to enjoy sex.
Actually, the painting that really shocked Paris was Gustave Courbet's "Origin of the World", painted in 1866.
Anyone who has the opportunity to go to Paris should visit the Musee d’Orsay. IMO, it holds more interest than the Louvre. You'll get to see all the paintings that you had to study in school, plus a lot more. I also love the building, it's a former railroad station.
and that is the big difference between this and the classical paintings. I was referring to his painting technique alone.
His subject matter was also a jump from the academics of his time. And he got more impressionistic in other paintings.
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the one with the brioche is after a Chardin of the same image...
what a portrayal of a strong willed woman!
and isn't it funny that the David doesn't have his hand slapped over his genitals? I can't figure that whole thing out...as Mr. Rogers said "Some are fancy on the inside some are fancy on the outside."
And as for art, I'm not even doing much in the way of nudes right now anyway (not because of any controversy over nudity, just the way my research goes). I thank you for your kind remarks and hope you return for my future offerings...one of the things that terrifies me is when I am unsure about the religious paintings since I have no religion and have had to depend on the kindness of strangers to help me understand all the "players" in the prodigious supply of religion related works in western art.
But, if my research is correct, art always makes SOMEBODY mad! Just you wait and see...
