ÉDOUARD MANET A JEHO OLYMPIA

The paper entitled Édouard Manet and his Olympia attempts to justify why this painting can be considered one of the founding paintings of modernism in painting. On the one hand, Manet adheres to some of the basic conventions applicable to the genre of the “nude,” as evidenced by the inter-iconic reference to Titian’s painting Venus of Urbino. On the other hand, he partly departs from these conventions and partly enters into open conflict. The image of Olympia does not represent a divine, ideal beauty but a woman’s body, even the body of a prostitute. Manet attempts to represent with the painting what is symptomatic of the present and what is indexical of this present. The painting of Olympia has sparked controversy, sparked by its subject matter and artistic articulation. The paper attempts to interpret this controversy’s thematic and formal causes.