The author of Olympia is an impressionist. Sexual secrets of Olympia: a guide to the most scandalous painting by Edouard Manet. Biography. Rough start

« Olympia" - a world masterpiece paintings of the 19th century century. The picture was painted by the great French artist(1832-1883) in 1863. Oil on canvas, 130.5 × 190 cm. The painting is currently in the Orsay Museum in Paris.

Job famous impressionist called big scandal in the circles of art critics and spectators after it was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1865. Many did not like both the plot itself and Manet’s writing style, in which he abandoned the drawing and elaboration of colors and details, as well as the depth of the composition. Mane was accused of immorality. Moreover, during the exhibition there were more than once attempts on her life. Crowds of people came just to laugh at the picture. The administration, in order to preserve the painting, placed two guards near the painting, who could hardly defend “Olympia”, otherwise it would simply have been torn into pieces and trampled on.

The painting depicts a naked woman. The model for Olympia was Manet’s favorite model, Victorine Meurand (1844-1927), who also posed for such paintings by Edouard Manet as: “Street Singer”, “Mademoiselle Quiz in the Costume of a Matador”, “Breakfast on the Grass”, “Woman with a Parrot” " And " Railway" In addition to Olympia, the painting contains a dark-skinned maid with a bouquet and a black kitten.

In his painting, Manet does not pay much attention to the spatial plan and volume. This makes the work appear a bit flat, consisting of a foreground with figures and a flat interior in the background. A yellow vertical stripe on the wall divides the painting into two parts, one containing Olympia with a brown wall background, and the other containing a maid and a kitten with green curtains as a background. The flat composition, lack of multi-layering, as well as deliberate carelessness of writing are a harbinger of the emergence of a new style - impressionism.

Art critics note that the painting by Edouard Manet is similar to some other paintings by different authors of the past, in which there is a reclining nude woman, for example: “Sleeping Venus” by Giorgione, “Venus of Urbino” by Titian, “Maja Nude” by Francisco Goya and others. The poses of the lying women in these paintings are almost the same. Particular similarities are found with Titian’s painting “Venus of Urbino”. Both Venus and Olympia are in very similar poses, including the position of their arms and legs. Moreover, in Titian's painting there is also a clear division into two honors using a vertical line that separates the main object in the painting from the secondary subject. Moreover, both women have a bracelet on their right hand, and a pet lies at their feet (in Titian’s painting there is a dog).

Such copying of a painting is not at all the “stealing” of Titian’s idea. Using the example of this painting, as well as the example of the painting “,” the basis of which was also taken from the work of a Renaissance artist (Marcantonio Raimondi), we can see the innovative artist’s rethinking of the ideals of beauty of painting of the past on new way. Edouard Manet brings masterpieces of the Renaissance to reality modern life, thereby making the motive of the picture more understandable and closer to modern man. Despite the plot, which is similar to a mythological one, the viewer can immediately notice that in front of him is an ordinary modern girl.

Name main character The painting "Olympia" in Manet's time was associated with a girl of easy virtue because of Alexandre Dumas's novel "The Lady of the Camellias". This is also evidenced by various symbols in the painting: a black maid who brought a bouquet of flowers from a suitor; an aphrodisiac in the form of an orchid flower in the hair; pearl jewelry worn by the goddess of love Venus; a black kitten is a symbol of a witch and vice.

The painting made such a great impression on other artists that Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso, Rene Magritte, Gerhard Richter, Larry Rivers and many others wrote their “Olympias” based on Manet’s painting.

Pandan earrings match the pearl, and on the model’s right hand there is a wide gold bracelet with a pendant. The girl's feet are decorated with elegant pantalette shoes.

The second character in Manet's canvas is a dark-skinned maid. In her hands she holds a luxurious bouquet in white paper. The black woman is dressed in a pink dress that contrasts brightly with her skin, and her head is almost lost among the black tones of the background. A black kitten nestles at the foot of the bed, serving as an important compositional point on the right side of the picture.

Olympia's model was Manet's favorite model, Quiz Meurand. However, there is an assumption that Manet used in the picture the image of the famous courtesan, mistress of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte Marguerite Bellanger.

    Edouard Manet 081.jpg

    Edouard Manet:
    Venus of Urbino
    Copy of Titian's painting

    Olympia Study Paris.JPG

    Edouard Manet:
    Sketch for Olympia
    Sangina

    Olympia Study BN.JPG

    Edouard Manet:
    Sketch for Olympia
    Sangina

    Edouard Manet:
    Olympia
    Watercolor 1863

    Edouard Manet:
    Olympia
    Etching 1867

    Edouard Manet:
    Olympia
    Etching with aquatint 1867

    Edouard Manet:
    Olympia
    Woodcut

Iconography

Predecessors

"Olympia" was one of the most famous nudes of the 19th century. However, Olympia has many famous examples that preceded it: the image of a reclining nude woman has a long tradition in the history of art. The direct predecessors of Manet’s Olympia are “ Sleeping Venus" Giorgione 1510 and " Venus of Urbino» Titian 1538 Naked women written on them in almost the same position.

“Olympia” by Manet reveals a great resemblance to Titian’s painting, because it was from it that Manet wrote a copy during his apprenticeship years. Both the Venus of Urbino and Olympia are depicted in domestic settings; as in Titian’s painting, the background of Manet’s “Olympia” is clearly divided into two parts by a vertical in the direction of the reclining woman’s womb. Both women lean equally on their right hand, both women have right hand is decorated with a bracelet, and the left one covers the womb, and the gaze of both beauties is directed directly at the viewer. In both paintings, a kitten or a dog is located at the women’s feet and a maid is present. Manet already used a similar manner of quoting with the transfer of the Renaissance motif into modern Parisian realities when creating “Luncheon on the Grass”.

The direct and open look of the naked Olympia is already known from Goya’s “Macha Nude”, and the contrast between pale and dark skin was already played out in the painting “Esther” or “Odalisque” by Léon Benouville of 1844, although in this painting the white-skinned woman is dressed. By 1850, photographs of nude reclining women were also widespread in Paris.

    Giorgione - Sleeping Venus - Google Art Project 2.jpg

    Giorgione:
    Sleeping Venus

    Léon Benouville Odaliske.jpg

    Leon Benouville:
    Esther or Odalisque

Manet was influenced not only by painting and photography, but also by Charles Baudelaire's poetry collection Les Fleurs de Evil. The original concept of the painting had to do with the poet’s metaphor “ catwoman", running through a number of his works dedicated to Jeanne Duval. This connection is clearly visible in the initial sketches. In the finished picture, a bristling cat appears at the woman’s feet with the same eye expression as the owner’s.

The title of the painting and its implications

One of the reasons for the scandalousness of the painting was its name: the artist did not follow the tradition of justifying the nudity of the woman in the painting with a legendary plot and did not call his nude a “mythological” name like “ Venus" or " Danae" In the painting of the 19th century. Numerous “Odalisques” appeared, the most famous of which, of course, is “The Great Odalisque” by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, but Manet neglected this option.

On the contrary, the style of the few pieces of jewelry and the style of the girl’s shoes indicate that Olympia lives in modern times, and not in any abstract Attica or Ottoman Empire.

The very name that Manet gave the girl is also unusual. A decade and a half earlier, in 1848, Alexandre Dumas published his famous novel “The Lady of the Camellias,” in which the main antagonist and colleague of the heroine of the novel bears the name Olympia. Moreover, this name was a common noun: ladies of the demimonde were often called this way. For the artist’s contemporaries, this name was associated not with the distant Mount Olympus, but with.

This is confirmed by the symbolic language of the painting:

  • In Titian's painting "Venus of Urbino" women in the background are busy preparing a dowry, which, together with the sleeping dog at the feet of Venus, should mean home comfort and fidelity. And in Manet, a black maid carries a bouquet of flowers from a fan - flowers are traditionally considered a symbol of a gift, a donation. The orchid in Olympia's hair is an aphrodisiac.
  • Pearl jewelry was worn by the goddess of love, Venus, and the jewelry on Olympia's neck looks like a ribbon tied on a wrapped gift.
  • A sagging kitten with its tail raised is a classic attribute in the depiction of witches, a sign of bad omen and erotic excess.
  • In addition, the bourgeoisie were especially outraged by the fact that the model (naked woman), contrary to all norms of public morality, did not lie with her eyes modestly downcast. Olympia appears before the viewer awake, like Giorgion's Venus, she looks straight into his eyes. Her client usually looks straight into the eyes of a prostitute; thanks to Manet, everyone who looks at his “Olympia” ends up in this role.

Who came up with the idea to call the painting “Olympia” remains unknown. In the city, a year after the creation of the picture, the poem “ Daughter of the Island"and poems by Zachary Astruc dedicated to Olympia. This poem is listed in the catalog of the Paris Salon in 1865.

Zachary Astruc wrote this poem inspired by a painting of his friend. However, it is curious that in Manet’s 1866 portrait, Zachary Astruc is depicted not against the background of Olympia, but against the background of Titian’s Venus of Urbino.

Scandal

Paris Salon

Manet first tried to present his works at the Paris Salon in 1859. However, his “Absinthe Lover” was not allowed to the salon. In 1861, at the Paris Salon, two works by Manet, “Guitarero” and “Portrait of Parents,” won the favor of the public. In 1863, Manet’s works again did not pass the selection of the jury of the Paris Salon and were shown as part of the “Salon of the Rejected”, where “Luncheon on the Grass” was at the epicenter of a major scandal.

Manet was probably going to show “Olympia” at the Paris Salon in 1864, but since it again depicted the same nude Victorine Meurant, Manet decided to avoid a new scandal and proposed “Episode of a Bullfight” and instead of “Olympia” for the Paris Salon of 1864 " Dead Christ with angels", but they were also denied recognition. It was only in 1865 that Olympia was presented at the Paris Salon along with The Mockery of Christ.

New style of writing

One of the biggest scandals in the art of the 19th century erupted because of Manet's Olympia. Both the plot of the painting and the artist’s painting style turned out to be scandalous. Manet, addicted Japanese art, abandoned the careful elaboration of the nuances of light and dark, which other artists strove for. Because of this, contemporaries were unable to see the volume of the depicted figure and considered the composition of the painting to be rough and flat. Gustave Courbet compared Olympia to the queen of spades from a deck of cards, just emerging from the bath. Manet was accused of immorality and vulgarity. Antonin Proust later recalled that the painting survived only thanks to the precautions taken by the exhibition administration.

No one has ever seen anything more cynical than this “Olympia,” wrote modern critic. - This is a female gorilla, made of rubber and depicted completely naked, on a bed. Her hand seems to be in an obscene spasm... Seriously speaking, I would advise young women expecting a child, as well as girls, to avoid such impressions.

The canvas exhibited at the Salon caused a stir and was subjected to wild mockery from the crowd, agitated by the criticism that fell from the newspapers. The frightened administration placed two guards at the painting, but this was not enough. The crowd, laughing, howling and threatening with canes and umbrellas, was not afraid of the military guard. Several times the soldiers had to draw their weapons. The painting attracted hundreds of people who came to the exhibition only to curse the painting and spit on it. As a result, the painting was moved to the farthest hall of the Salon at such a height that it was almost invisible.

The artist Degas said:

Life path of the canvas

  • - the picture is painted.
  • - the painting is exhibited at the Salon. After this, for almost a quarter of a century it was kept in the author’s workshop, inaccessible to outsiders.
  • - the painting was exhibited at an exhibition on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. A rich American expresses a desire to buy it for any money. Manet's friends collect 20,000 francs by subscription and buy Olympia from the artist's widow in order to donate it to the state. The authorities, not too pleased with such a gift, after some resistance, nevertheless accept the gift and give it for safekeeping to the storerooms of the Luxembourg Palace.
  • - without fanfare, “Olympia” is transferred to the Louvre.
  • - finally, the painting still takes pride of place in the newly opened Museum of Impressionism.

The influence of the picture

The first artist to create his own work based on Olympia was Paul Cézanne. However, in its Modern Olympia“he went a little further, depicting, in addition to the prostitute and the maid herself, also the client. Paul Gauguin painted a copy of Olympia in 1891, Olympia inspired both Edgar Degas and Henri Fantin-Latour. Pablo Picasso replaced the clothed maid with two naked men in his parody of Olympia.

Throughout the 20th century, the Olympia motif was in great demand among the most different artists. These include Jean Dubuffet, René Magritte, Francis Newton Sousa, Gerhard Richter, A. R. Penck, Felix Vallotton, Jacques Villon and Herrault. Larry Rivers wrote a black Olympia in the city and called his creation “ I like Olympia in Black Face" In the 1990s. three-dimensional Olympia appeared. American artist Seward Johnson created a sculpture based on Manet's Olympia entitled " Confrontational Vulnerability».

In 2004, a cartoon depicting George W. Bush. in the Olympian pose, was removed from display at the Washington City Museum.

Filmography

  • "Model with black cat", movie Alena Jaubert from the series “Palettes” (France, 1998).

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Notes

Links

  • in the database of the Orsay Museum (French)

Excerpt characterizing Olympia (painting by Manet)

Bilibin was a man of about thirty-five, single, in the same company as Prince Andrei. They knew each other in St. Petersburg, but they became even closer during Prince Andrei’s last visit to Vienna together with Kutuzov. Just as Prince Andrei was a young man who promised to go far in the military field, so, and even more, did Bilibin promise in the diplomatic field. He was still a young man, but no longer a young diplomat, since he began serving at the age of sixteen, was in Paris, in Copenhagen, and now occupied a rather significant position in Vienna. Both the Chancellor and our envoy in Vienna knew him and valued him. He wasn't one of those people large quantity diplomats who are required to have only negative virtues, not do well-known things and speak French in order to be very good diplomats; he was one of those diplomats who love and know how to work, and, despite his laziness, he sometimes spent the night at his desk. He worked equally well, no matter what the nature of the work was. He was not interested in the question “why?”, but in the question “how?”. What the diplomatic matter was, he didn’t care; but to draw up a circular, memorandum or report skillfully, accurately and gracefully - he found great pleasure in this. Bilibin's merits were valued, except written works, also by his art of addressing and speaking in higher spheres.
Bilibin loved conversation just as he loved work, only when the conversation could be elegantly witty. In society, he constantly waited for an opportunity to say something remarkable and entered into conversation only under these conditions. Bilibin's conversation was constantly peppered with original witty, complete phrases of general interest.
These phrases were produced in Bilibin’s internal laboratory, as if on purpose, of a portable nature, so that insignificant secular people could conveniently remember them and transfer them from living rooms to living rooms. And indeed, les mots de Bilibine se colportaient dans les salons de Vienne, [Bilibin’s reviews were distributed throughout Viennese living rooms] and often had an influence on so-called important matters.
Thin, emaciated, yellowish face it was all covered with large wrinkles, which always seemed as cleanly and diligently washed, like fingertips after a bath. The movements of these wrinkles constituted the main play of his physiognomy. Now his forehead wrinkled in wide folds, his eyebrows rose upward, now his eyebrows went down, and large wrinkles formed on his cheeks. The deep-set, small eyes always looked straight and cheerful.
“Well, now tell us your exploits,” he said.
Bolkonsky, in the most modest way, without ever mentioning himself, told the story and the reception of the Minister of War.
“Ils m"ont recu avec ma nouvelle, comme un chien dans un jeu de quilles, [They accepted me with this news, as they accept a dog when it interferes with a game of skittles,] he concluded.
Bilibin grinned and loosened the folds of his skin.
“Cependant, mon cher,” he said, examining his nail from afar and picking up the skin above his left eye, “malgre la haute estime que je professe pour le Orthodox Russian army, j"avoue que votre victoire n"est pas des plus victorieuses. [However, my dear, with all due respect to the Orthodox Russian army, I believe that your victory is not the most brilliant.]
He continued the same way French, pronouncing in Russian only those words that he contemptuously wanted to emphasize.
- How? You with all your weight fell upon the unfortunate Mortier with one division, and this Mortier leaves between your hands? Where is the victory?
“However, seriously speaking,” answered Prince Andrei, “we can still say without boasting that this is a little better than Ulm...
- Why didn’t you take us one, at least one marshal?
– Because not everything is done as expected, and not as regularly as at the parade. We expected, as I told you, to reach the rear by seven o'clock in the morning, but did not arrive at five in the evening.
- Why didn’t you come at seven o’clock in the morning? “You should have come at seven o’clock in the morning,” Bilibin said smiling, “you should have come at seven o’clock in the morning.”
– Why didn’t you convince Bonaparte through diplomatic means that it was better for him to leave Genoa? – Prince Andrei said in the same tone.
“I know,” Bilibin interrupted, “you think it’s very easy to take marshals while sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace.” This is true, but still, why didn’t you take him? And do not be surprised that not only the Minister of War, but also the August Emperor and King Franz will not be very happy with your victory; and I, the unfortunate secretary of the Russian embassy, ​​do not feel any need to give my Franz a thaler as a sign of joy and let him go with his Liebchen [sweetheart] to the Prater... True, there is no Prater here.
He looked straight at Prince Andrei and suddenly pulled the collected skin off his forehead.
“Now it’s my turn to ask you why, my dear,” said Bolkonsky. “I confess to you that I don’t understand, maybe there are diplomatic subtleties here that are beyond my weak mind, but I don’t understand: Mack is losing an entire army, Archduke Ferdinand and Archduke Charles do not show any signs of life and make mistakes after mistakes, finally, alone Kutuzov wins a real victory, destroys the charme [charm] of the French, and the Minister of War is not even interested in knowing the details.
“That’s exactly why, my dear.” Voyez vous, mon cher: [You see, my dear:] hurray! for the Tsar, for Rus', for the faith! Tout ca est bel et bon, [all this is fine and good,] but what do we, I say, the Austrian court, care about your victories? Bring us your good news about the victory of Archduke Charles or Ferdinand - un archiduc vaut l "autre, [one Archduke is worth another,] as you know - even over a company of Bonaparte’s fire brigade, that’s another matter, we’ll thunder into the cannons. Otherwise this , as if on purpose, can only tease us. Archduke Charles does nothing, Archduke Ferdinand is covered in shame, you abandon Vienna, you no longer defend, comme si vous nous disiez: [as if you told us:] God is with us, and God is with us. you, with your capital. One general, whom we all loved, Shmit: you bring him under the bullet and congratulate us on the victory!... Agree that it is impossible to think of anything more irritating than the news that you bring C "est comme un fait expres, Comme un fait expres. [It’s as if on purpose, as if on purpose.] Besides, well, if you had definitely won a brilliant victory, even if Archduke Charles had won, what would it have changed in the general course of affairs? It is too late now that Vienna is occupied by French troops.
-How busy are you? Is Vienna busy?
“Not only is she busy, but Bonaparte is in Schönbrunn, and the count, our dear Count Vrbna, goes to him for orders.”
Bolkonsky, after the fatigue and impressions of the journey, the reception, and especially after dinner, felt that he did not understand the full meaning of the words he heard.
“Count Lichtenfels was here this morning,” Bilibin continued, “and showed me a letter in which the French parade in Vienna is described in detail. Le prince Murat et tout le tremblement... [Prince Murat and all that...] You see that your victory is not very joyful, and that you cannot be accepted as a savior...
- Really, it doesn’t matter to me, it doesn’t matter at all! - said Prince Andrey, beginning to understand that his news about the battle of Krems really had little importance in view of such events as the occupation of the capital of Austria. - How was Vienna taken? What about the bridge and the famous tete de pont [bridge fortification] and Prince Auersperg? “We had rumors that Prince Auersperg was defending Vienna,” he said.
“Prince Auersperg stands on this, our side, and protects us; I think it protects very poorly, but it still protects. And Vienna is on the other side. No, the bridge has not yet been taken and, I hope, will not be taken, because it is mined and they have ordered it to be blown up. Otherwise, we would have been in the mountains of Bohemia long ago, and you and your army would have spent a bad quarter of an hour between two fires.
“But this still does not mean that the campaign is over,” said Prince Andrei.
- And I think it’s over. And so the big caps here think, but they don’t dare say it. It will be what I said at the beginning of the campaign, that it is not your echauffouree de Durenstein, [the Durenstein skirmish] that gunpowder will decide the matter, but those who invented it,” said Bilibin, repeating one of his mots [words], loosening his skin on the forehead and pausing. – The only question is what the Berlin meeting of Emperor Alexander with the Prussian king will say. If Prussia enters into an alliance, on forcera la main a l "Autriche, [they force Austria] and there will be war. If not, then the only question is to agree on where to draw up the initial articles of the new Campo Formio. [Campo Formio.]
– But what extraordinary genius! - Prince Andrei suddenly cried out, squeezing his small hand and hitting the table with it. - And what happiness is this man!
- Buonaparte? [Buonaparte?] - Bilibin said questioningly, wrinkling his forehead and thereby making it felt that now there would be an un mot [word]. - Bu onaparte? - he said, emphasizing especially the u. “I think, however, that now that he is prescribing the laws of Austria from Schönbrunn, il faut lui faire grace de l"u [we must rid him of i.] I decisively make an innovation and call it Bonaparte tout court [simply Bonaparte].
“No, no joke,” said Prince Andrei, “do you really think that the campaign is over?”
- That's what I think. Austria was left in the cold, and she was not used to it. And she will repay. And she remained a fool because, firstly, the provinces were ruined (on dit, le Orthodox est terrible pour le pillage), [they say that the Orthodox is terrible in terms of robberies,] the army was defeated, the capital was taken, and all this pour les beaux yeux du [for the sake of beautiful eyes,] Sardinian Majesty. And therefore - entre nous, mon cher [between us, my dear] - I instinctively hear that we are being deceived, I instinctively hear relations with France and projects for peace, a secret peace, separately concluded.
– This can’t be! - said Prince Andrei, - that would be too disgusting.
“Qui vivra verra, [We’ll wait and see,”] said Bilibin, unraveling his skin again as a sign of the end of the conversation.
When Prince Andrei came to the room prepared for him and lay down in clean linen on down jackets and fragrant heated pillows, he felt that the battle about which he had brought news was far, far away from him. The Prussian Union, the betrayal of Austria, the new triumph of Bonaparte, the exit and parade, and the reception of Emperor Franz for the next day occupied him.
He closed his eyes, but at the same moment the cannonade, gunfire, the sound of carriage wheels crackled in his ears, and then again the musketeers stretched out like a thread were descending from the mountain, and the French were shooting, and he felt his heart shudder, and he rode forward next to Shmit, and the bullets whistle merrily around him, and he experiences that feeling of tenfold joy in life, which he has not experienced since childhood.
He woke up...
“Yes, it all happened!..” he said, smiling happily, childishly to himself, and fell into a deep, young sleep.

The next day he woke up late. Renewing the impressions of the past, he remembered first of all that today he had to introduce himself to Emperor Franz, he remembered the Minister of War, the courteous Austrian adjutant, Bilibin and the conversation of yesterday evening. Dressed in full dress uniform, which he had not worn for a long time, for the trip to the palace, he, fresh, lively and handsome, with his arm tied, entered Bilibin’s office. There were four gentlemen of the diplomatic corps in the office. Bolkonsky was familiar with Prince Ippolit Kuragin, who was the secretary of the embassy; Bilibin introduced him to others.
The gentlemen who visited Bilibin were secular, young, rich and funny people, formed a separate circle both in Vienna and here, which Bilibin, who was the head of this circle, called ours, les nftres. This circle, which consisted almost exclusively of diplomats, apparently had its own interests that had nothing to do with war and politics. high society, relationships with some women and the clerical side of the service. These gentlemen, apparently, willingly accepted Prince Andrei into their circle as one of their own (an honor they did to few). Out of politeness, and as a subject for entering into conversation, he was asked several questions about the army and the battle, and the conversation again crumbled into inconsistent, cheerful jokes and gossip.
“But it’s especially good,” said one, telling the failure of a fellow diplomat, “what’s especially good is that the chancellor directly told him that his appointment to London was a promotion, and that he should look at it that way.” Do you see his figure at the same time?...
“But what’s worse, gentlemen, I give you Kuragin: the man is in misfortune, and this Don Juan, this terrible man, is taking advantage of it!”
Prince Hippolyte was lying in a Voltaire chair, his legs crossed over the arm. He laughed.
“Parlez moi de ca, [Come on, come on,]” he said.
- Oh, Don Juan! Oh snake! – voices were heard.
“You don’t know, Bolkonsky,” Bilibin turned to Prince Andrei, “that all the horrors of the French army (I almost said the Russian army) are nothing compared to what this man did between women.”
“La femme est la compagne de l"homme, [A woman is a man’s friend],” said Prince Hippolyte and began to look through the lorgnette at his raised legs.
Bilibin and ours burst out laughing, looking into Ippolit’s eyes. Prince Andrei saw that this Ippolit, whom he (had to admit) was almost jealous of his wife, was a buffoon in this society.
“No, I must treat you to Kuragin,” Bilibin said quietly to Bolkonsky. – He is charming when he talks about politics, you need to see this importance.
He sat down next to Hippolytus and, gathering folds on his forehead, started a conversation with him about politics. Prince Andrei and others surrounded both.
“Le cabinet de Berlin ne peut pas exprimer un sentiment d" alliance,” began Hippolyte, looking at everyone significantly, “sans exprimer... comme dans sa derieniere note... vous comprenez... vous comprenez... et puis si sa Majeste l"Empereur ne deroge pas au principe de notre alliance... [The Berlin cabinet cannot express its opinion on the alliance without expressing... as in its last note... you understand... you understand... however, if His Majesty the Emperor does not change the essence of our alliance...]
“Attendez, je n"ai pas fini...,” he said to Prince Andrei, grabbing his hand. “Je suppose que l”intervention sera plus forte que la non intervention.” Et...” He paused. – On ne pourra pas imputer a la fin de non recevoir notre depeche du 28 novembre. Voila comment tout cela finira. [Wait, I haven't finished. I think that intervention will be stronger than non-intervention. And... It is impossible to consider the matter over if our dispatch of November 28 is not accepted. How will this all end?]
And he let go of Bolkonsky’s hand, indicating that he had now completely finished.
“Demosthenes, je te reconnais au caillou que tu as cache dans ta bouche d"or! [Demosthenes, I recognize you by the pebble that you hide in your golden lips!] - said Bilibin, whose cap of hair moved on his head with pleasure .
Everyone laughed. Hippolytus laughed loudest of all. He apparently suffered, was suffocating, but could not resist the wild laughter that stretched his always motionless face.
“Well, gentlemen,” said Bilibin, “Bolkonsky is my guest in the house and here in Brunn, and I want to treat him, as much as I can, to all the joys of life here.” If we were in Brunn, it would be easy; but here, dans ce vilain trou morave [in this nasty Moravian hole], it is more difficult, and I ask you all for help. Il faut lui faire les honneurs de Brunn. [We need to show him Brunn.] You take over the theater, I – society, you, Hippolytus, of course – women.
– We need to show him Amelie, she’s lovely! - said one of ours, kissing the tips of his fingers.
“In general, this bloodthirsty soldier,” said Bilibin, “should be converted to more humane views.”
“I’m unlikely to take advantage of your hospitality, gentlemen, and now it’s time for me to go,” Bolkonsky said, looking at his watch.
- Where?
- To the emperor.
- ABOUT! O! O!
- Well, goodbye, Bolkonsky! Goodbye, prince; “Come to dinner earlier,” voices were heard. - We are taking care of you.
“Try to praise the order in the delivery of provisions and routes as much as possible when you speak with the emperor,” said Bilibin, escorting Bolkonsky to the front hall.
“And I would like to praise, but I can’t, as much as I know,” Bolkonsky answered smiling.
- Well, in general, talk as much as possible. His passion is audiences; but he himself does not like to speak and does not know how, as you will see.

On the way out, Emperor Franz only gazed intently at the face of Prince Andrei, who stood in the appointed place between the Austrian officers, and nodded his long head to him. But after leaving yesterday’s wing, the adjutant politely conveyed to Bolkonsky the emperor’s desire to give him an audience.
Emperor Franz received him, standing in the middle of the room. Before starting the conversation, Prince Andrei was struck by the fact that the emperor seemed confused, not knowing what to say, and blushed.

Description of the canvas

The painting depicts a reclining nude woman. She rests her right hand on lush white pillows, her upper body slightly raised. Her left hand rests on her thigh, covering her womb. The model's face and body are facing the viewer.

A cream blanket, richly decorated along the edge with a floral pattern, is thrown over her snow-white bed. The girl holds the tip of the bedspread with her hand. The viewer can also see the dark red upholstery of the bed. The girl is completely naked, wearing only a few jewelry: her pulled back red hair is decorated with a large pink orchid, and around her neck she has a black velvet velvet with a pearl tied in a bow. Pandan earrings match the pearl, and on the model’s right hand there is a wide gold bracelet with a pendant. The girl's feet are decorated with elegant pantalette shoes.

The second character in Manet's canvas is a dark-skinned maid. In her hands she holds a luxurious bouquet in white paper. The black woman is dressed in a pink dress that contrasts brightly with her skin, and her head is almost lost among the black tones of the background. A black kitten nestles at the foot of the bed, serving as an important compositional point on the right side of the picture.

Iconography

Predecessors

"Olympia" was one of the most famous nudes of the 19th century. However, Olympia has many famous examples that preceded it: the image of a reclining nude woman has a long tradition in the history of art. The direct predecessors of Manet’s Olympia are “ Sleeping Venus" Giorgione 1510 and " Venus of Urbino» Titian 1538. Nude women are painted on them in almost the same pose.

“Olympia” by Manet reveals a great resemblance to Titian’s painting, because it was from it that Manet wrote a copy during his apprenticeship years. Both the Venus of Urbino and Olympia are depicted in domestic settings; as in Titian’s painting, the background of Manet’s “Olympia” is clearly divided into two parts by a vertical in the direction of the reclining woman’s womb. Both women lean equally on their right hand, both women have a right hand decorated with a bracelet, and the left one covers the womb, and the gaze of both beauties is directed directly at the viewer. In both paintings, a kitten or a dog is located at the women’s feet and a maid is present. Manet already used a similar manner of quoting with the transfer of the Renaissance motif into modern Parisian realities when creating “Luncheon on the Grass”.

The direct and open look of the naked Olympia is already known from Goya’s “Macha Nude”, and the contrast between pale and dark skin was already played out in the painting “Esther” or “Odalisque” by Léon Benouville of 1844, although in this painting the white-skinned woman is dressed. By 1850, photographs of nude reclining women were also widespread in Paris.

Manet was influenced not only by painting and photography, but also by Charles Baudelaire's poetry collection Les Fleurs de Evil. The original concept of the painting had to do with the poet’s metaphor “ catwoman", running through a number of his works dedicated to Jeanne Duval. This connection is clearly visible in the initial sketches. In the finished picture, a bristling cat appears at the woman’s feet with the same eye expression as the owner’s.

The title of the painting and its implications

Edouard Manet:
Portrait of Zachary Astruc

Edouard Manet: Portrait of Emile Zola. The artist depicted Zola against the background of a wall with a sketch for Olympia and a Japanese engraving

One of the reasons for the scandalousness of the painting was its name: the artist did not follow the tradition of justifying the nudity of the woman in the painting with a legendary plot and did not call his nude a “mythological” name like “ Venus" or " Danae" In the painting of the 19th century. Numerous “Odalisques” appeared, the most famous of which, of course, is “The Great Odalisque” by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, but Manet neglected this option.

On the contrary, the style of the few jewelry and the style of the girl’s shoes indicate that Olympia lives in modern times, and not in some abstract Attica or Ottoman Empire.

The very name that Manet gave the girl is also unusual. A decade and a half earlier, in 1848, Alexandra Dumas published her famous novel “The Lady of the Camellias,” in which the main antagonist and colleague of the heroine of the novel bears the name Olympia. Moreover, this name was a common noun: ladies of the demimonde were often called this way. For the artist’s contemporaries, this name was associated not with the distant Mount Olympus, but with.

This is confirmed by the symbolic language of the painting:

  • In Titian's painting "Venus of Urbino" women in the background are busy preparing a dowry, which, together with the sleeping dog at the feet of Venus, should mean home comfort and fidelity. And in Manet, a black maid carries a bouquet of flowers from a fan - flowers are traditionally considered a symbol of a gift, a donation. The orchid in Olympia's hair is an aphrodisiac.
  • Pearl jewelry was worn by the goddess of love, Venus, and the jewelry on Olympia's neck looks like a ribbon tied on a wrapped gift.
  • A sagging kitten with its tail raised is a classic attribute in the depiction of witches, a sign of bad omen and erotic excess.
  • In addition, the bourgeoisie were especially outraged by the fact that the model (naked woman), contrary to all norms of public morality, did not lie with her eyes modestly downcast. Olympia appears before the viewer awake, like Giorgion's Venus, she looks straight into his eyes. Her client usually looks straight into the eyes of a prostitute; thanks to Manet, everyone who looks at his “Olympia” ends up in this role.

Who came up with the idea to call the painting “Olympia” remains unknown. In the city, a year after the creation of the picture, the poem “ Daughter of the Island"and poems by Zachary Astruc dedicated to Olympia. This poem is listed in the catalog of the Paris Salon in 1865.

Zachary Astruc wrote this poem inspired by a painting of his friend. However, it is curious that in Manet’s 1866 portrait, Zachary Astruc is depicted not against the background of Olympia, but against the background of Titian’s Venus of Urbino.

Scandal

Paris Salon

Edouard Manet:
Mockery of Christ

Manet first tried to present his works at the Paris Salon in 1859. However, his “Absinthe Lover” was not allowed to the salon. In 1861, at the Paris Salon, two works by Manet, “Guitarero” and “Portrait of Parents,” won the favor of the public. In 1863, Manet’s works again did not pass the selection of the jury of the Paris Salon and were shown as part of the “Salon of the Rejected”, where “Luncheon on the Grass” was at the epicenter of a major scandal.

Manet was probably going to show “Olympia” at the Paris Salon in 1864, but since it again depicted the same nude Victorine Meurant, Manet decided to avoid a new scandal and proposed “Episode of a Bullfight” and instead of “Olympia” for the Paris Salon of 1864 " Dead Christ with angels", but they were also denied recognition. It was only in 1865 that Olympia was presented at the Paris Salon along with The Mockery of Christ.

New style of writing

One of the biggest scandals in the art of the 19th century erupted because of Manet's Olympia. Both the plot of the painting and the artist’s painting style turned out to be scandalous. Manet, who was fond of Japanese art, abandoned the careful elaboration of the nuances of light and dark, which other artists strove for. Because of this, contemporaries were unable to see the volume of the depicted figure and considered the composition of the painting to be rough and flat. Gustave Courbet compared Olympia to the queen of spades from a deck of cards, just emerging from the bath. Manet was accused of immorality and vulgarity. Antonin Proust later recalled that the painting survived only thanks to the precautions taken by the exhibition administration.

No one has ever seen anything more cynical than this “Olympia,” wrote a modern critic. - This is a female gorilla, made of rubber and depicted completely naked, on a bed. Her hand seems to be in an obscene spasm... Seriously speaking, I would advise young women expecting a child, as well as girls, to avoid such impressions.

The canvas exhibited at the Salon caused

, oil . 130.5 × 190 cm

Orsay Museum, Paris (inv. RF 644) Images on Wikimedia Commons

Description of the canvas

The painting depicts a reclining nude woman. She rests her right hand on lush white pillows, her upper body slightly raised. Her left hand rests on her thigh, covering her womb. The model's face and body are facing the viewer.

A cream blanket, richly decorated along the edge with a floral pattern, is thrown over her snow-white bed. The girl holds the tip of the bedspread with her hand. The viewer can also see the dark red upholstery of the bed. The girl is completely naked, wearing only a few jewelry: her pulled back red hair is decorated with a large pink orchid, and around her neck she has a black velvet velvet with a pearl tied in a bow. Pandan earrings match the pearl, and on the model’s right hand there is a wide gold bracelet with a pendant. The girl's feet are decorated with elegant pantalette shoes.

The second character in Manet's canvas is a dark-skinned maid. In her hands she holds a luxurious bouquet in white paper. The black woman is dressed in a pink dress that contrasts brightly with her skin, and her head is almost lost among the black tones of the background. A black kitten nestles at the foot of the bed, serving as an important compositional point on the right side of the picture.

Olympia's model was Manet's favorite model, Quiz Meurand. However, there is an assumption that Manet used in the picture the image of the famous courtesan, mistress of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte Marguerite Bellanger.

Iconography

Predecessors

"Olympia" was one of the most famous nudes of the 19th century. However, Olympia has many famous examples that preceded it: the image of a reclining nude woman has a long tradition in the history of art. The direct predecessors of Manet’s Olympia are “ Sleeping Venus" Giorgione 1510 and " Venus of Urbino» Titian 1538. Nude women are depicted in almost the same pose.

“Olympia” by Manet reveals a great resemblance to Titian’s painting, because it was from it that Manet wrote a copy during his apprenticeship years. Both the Venus of Urbino and Olympia are depicted in domestic settings; as in Titian’s painting, the background of Manet’s “Olympia” is clearly divided into two parts by a vertical in the direction of the reclining woman’s womb. Both women lean equally on their right hand, both women have a right hand decorated with a bracelet, and the left one covers the womb, and the gaze of both beauties is directed directly at the viewer. In both paintings, a kitten or a dog is located at the women’s feet and a maid is present. Manet already used a similar manner of quoting with the transfer of the Renaissance motif into modern Parisian realities when creating “Luncheon on the Grass”.

The direct and open look of the naked Olympia is already known from Goya’s “Macha Nude”, and the contrast between pale and dark skin was already played out in the painting “Esther” or “Odalisque” by Léon Benouville of 1844, although in this painting the white-skinned woman is dressed. By 1850, photographs of nude reclining women were also widespread in Paris.

Manet was influenced not only by painting and photography, but also by Charles Baudelaire's poetry collection Les Fleurs de Evil. The original concept of the painting had to do with the poet’s metaphor “ catwoman", running through a number of his works dedicated to Jeanne Duval. This connection is clearly visible in the initial sketches. In the finished picture, a bristling cat appears at the woman’s feet with the same eye expression as the owner’s.

The title of the painting and its implications

One of the reasons for the scandalousness of the painting was its name: the artist did not follow the tradition of justifying the nudity of the woman in the painting with a legendary plot and did not call his nude a “mythological” name like “ Venus" or " Danae" Numerous “Odalisques” appeared in 19th-century painting, the most famous of which, of course, is “The Great Odalisque” by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, but Manet neglected this option.

On the contrary, the style of the few jewelry and the style of the girl’s shoes indicate that Olympia lives in modern times, and not in some abstract Attica or Ottoman Empire.

The very name that Manet gave the girl is also unusual. A decade and a half earlier, in 1848, Alexandre Dumas published his famous novel “The Lady of the Camellias,” in which the main antagonist and colleague of the heroine of the novel bears the name Olympia. Moreover, this name was a common noun: ladies of the demimonde were often called this way. For the artist’s contemporaries, this name was associated not with the distant Mount Olympus, but with.

This is confirmed by the symbolic language of the painting:

  • In Titian's painting "Venus of Urbino" women in the background are busy preparing a dowry, which, together with the sleeping dog at the feet of Venus, should mean home comfort and fidelity. And in Manet, a black maid carries a bouquet of flowers from a fan - flowers are traditionally considered a symbol of a gift, a donation. The orchid in Olympia's hair is an aphrodisiac.
  • Pearl jewelry was worn by the goddess of love, Venus, and the jewelry on Olympia's neck looks like a ribbon tied on a wrapped gift.
  • A sagging kitten with its tail raised is a classic attribute in the depiction of witches, a sign of bad omen and erotic excess.
  • In addition, the bourgeoisie were especially outraged by the fact that the model (naked woman), contrary to all norms of public morality, did not lie with her eyes modestly downcast. Olympia appears before the viewer awake, like Giorgion's Venus, she looks straight into his eyes. Her client usually looks straight into the eyes of a prostitute; thanks to Manet, everyone who looks at his “Olympia” ends up in this role.

Who came up with the idea to call the painting “Olympia” remains unknown. In 1864, a year after the painting was created, the poem “ Daughter of the Island"and poems by Zachary Astruc dedicated to Olympia. This poem is listed in the catalog of the Paris Salon in 1865.

Zachary Astruc wrote this poem inspired by a painting of his friend. However, it is curious that in Manet’s 1866 portrait, Zachary Astruc is depicted not against the background of Olympia, but against the background of Titian’s Venus of Urbino.

Scandal

Paris Salon

Manet first tried to present his works at the Paris Salon in 1859. However, his “Absinthe Lover” was not allowed to the salon. In 1861, at the Paris Salon, two works by Manet won the favor of the public - “Guitarrero” and “Portrait of Parents”. In 1863, Manet’s works again did not pass the selection of the jury of the Paris Salon and were shown as part of the “Salon of the Rejected”, where “Luncheon on the Grass” was at the epicenter of a major scandal.

Manet was probably going to show “Olympia” at the Paris Salon in 1864, but since it again depicted the same nude Victorine Meurant, Manet decided to avoid a new scandal and proposed “Episode of a Bullfight” and instead of “Olympia” for the Paris Salon of 1864 " Dead Christ with angels", but they were also denied recognition. It was only in 1865 that Olympia was presented at the Paris Salon along with The Mockery of Christ.

The artist's biographer Edmond Basir wrote: " He conceived and executed Olympia in the year of his marriage (1863), but exhibited it only in 1865. Despite the persuasion of his friends, he hesitated for a long time. To dare - contrary to all conventions - to depict a naked woman on an untidy bed and near her - a black woman with a bouquet and a black cat with an arched back. To paint without embellishment the living body and painted face of this model stretched out before us, not veiled by any Greek or Roman memory; be inspired by what you see yourself, and not what professors teach. It was so bold that he himself did not dare to show Olympia for a long time. He needed someone to push him. This push, which Manet could not resist, came from Baudelaire" .

New style of writing

One of the biggest scandals in the art of the 19th century erupted because of Manet's Olympia. Both the plot of the painting and the artist’s painting style turned out to be scandalous. Manet, who was fond of Japanese art, abandoned the careful elaboration of the nuances of light and dark, which other artists strove for. Because of this, contemporaries were unable to see the volume of the depicted figure and considered the composition of the painting to be rough and flat. Gustave Courbet compared Olympia to the queen of spades from a deck of cards, just emerging from the bath. Manet was accused of immorality and vulgarity. Antonin Proust later recalled that the painting survived only thanks to the precautions taken by the exhibition administration.

No one has ever seen anything more cynical than this “Olympia,” wrote a modern critic. - This is a female gorilla, made of rubber and depicted completely naked, on a bed. Her hand seems to be in an obscene spasm... Seriously speaking, I would advise young women expecting a child, as well as girls, to avoid such impressions.

The canvas exhibited at the Salon caused a stir and was subjected to wild mockery from the crowd, agitated by the criticism that fell from the newspapers. The frightened administration placed two guards at the painting, but this was not enough. The crowd, laughing, howling and threatening with canes and umbrellas, was not afraid of the military guard. Several times the soldiers had to draw their weapons. The painting attracted hundreds of people who came to the exhibition only to curse the painting and spit on it. As a result, the painting was moved to the farthest hall of the Salon at such a height that it was almost invisible.

The artist Degas said:

Life path of the canvas

  • - the picture is painted.

The story of one painting.

Olympia. Edouard Manet.

In life, unfortunately, many things have to be postponed for later for one reason or another. And now it has arrived - that long-awaited, happy moment when the time is ripe for one of the most beautiful things. Delightful works of art that have excited and excited the imagination of many, many generations will reside on these pages. And next to them will settle a piece of the time of their birth that is gone forever in the flow of existence. But life goes on continuously, and our time gives us such an invaluable gift as an understanding of permanence and continuity, fullness and depth, unevenness and heterogeneity, multidimensionality and fractality, string and spirality of space-time... And a feeling of presence, somehow inexplicable by turning the spiral, in this very time, next to it, in it... Our time has accelerated, compressed, and become denser. And in order to penetrate deeper into the essence of life that is happening, understand its laws and become the owner of an effective, bright and successful project “My Life”, you need to know the laws - the laws of manifesting, incarnating time, you need to learn how to do this. Learn to understand life. And use the most effective method for this - the immersion method. Why are these particular works of art so significant that there is still interest in them? What is connected with the most famous works art, what is the point? This series of posts will take us on the path to understanding the mysteries of life through painting.

An iridescent deep vibrant background, bright shining chiaroscuro of folds of fabric, an expressive, thoughtful look of a naked young girl... A masterpiece of impressionism - Olympia by Edouard Manet - is in front of you!

Edouard Manet

Edouard Mane

23.01.1832
30.04.1883
France

“Before Manet”, “after Manet” - such expressions are full deepest meaning.. Manet really was a “father” modern painting. In the history of art it would be possible to count very few revolutions similar to the one he made. Manet became the "father of impressionism", the one from whom came the impulse that entailed everything else. But why did Edouard Manet become this figure? What, after all, served as a sharp impetus for the emergence of a new direction in art? A bourgeois, a regular on the boulevard, a man of subtle mind, a dandy accustomed to spending time in the Tortoni cafe, a friend of the ladies of the demimonde - such was the painter who overturned the foundations of the art of his time. He sought fame and recognition, fame associated with success in the official Salon. It was believed that he was seeking notoriety. During his lifetime, thanks to the scandals that accompanied his name, masters portrayed him as a kind of bohemian, craving popularity of the worst kind. Such a categorical judgment is too primitive. Visible life is by no means the true life of a person: it is just a part of it, and, as a rule, not the most significant. Manet's life is not nearly as clear and obvious as they thought it was. Nervous and excitable, Manet was a man obsessed with creativity. “Revolutionary despite himself”? He resisted his fate, but he carried this fate within himself... Spring 1874. A group of young artists are accused of painting differently from established masters, simply to attract public attention. The most lenient viewed their work as ridicule, as an attempt to make fun of honest people. It took years of fierce struggle before the members of the small group were able to convince the public not only of their sincerity, but also of their talent. This group included: Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas, Cezanne and Berthe Morisot. During this period, the older generation dominated - Ingres, Delacroix, Corot and Courbet, as well as traditions implanted by official art schools. Edouard Manet studied at the School fine arts, absorbed various trends of his time - classicism, romanticism, realism. However, he refused to be blindly guided by the methods of renowned masters. Instead, from the lessons of the past and present, he learned new concepts, he saw light, incandescent light, making forms especially clear - without that muted tones, softened and elusive transitions that dissolve the lines under the sky of Paris, pure combinations of colors, distinct shadows, sharply defined "Valers" that do not allow halftones. In 1874, Edouard Manet categorically refused to participate in the First Impressionist Exhibition. Some art critics see this as the artist’s reluctance to complicate relations with the official Paris Salon and incur new attacks from critics. However, other researchers of Manet’s work (in particular, A. Barskaya) believe that there was another, no less significant reason. Among the works on display was P. Cezanne’s painting “New Olympia,” which also depicted a naked woman: a black maid took off her last clothes to present her to a respectable guest. Edouard Manet perceived Cezanne's painting as a lampoon of his "Olympia" and was deeply offended by such a frank interpretation of the plot. He, of course, remembered those vulgar ridicule, allusions and direct accusations of immorality that rained down on him in the mid-1860s. Then, in 1864, the jury of the Paris art salon rejected almost three-quarters of the artists' submitted works. And then Napoleon III graciously allowed them to be shown to the public at the “Additional Exhibition of Exhibitors Declared Too Weak to Participate in the Award Competition.” This exhibition immediately received the name “Salon of the Rejected”, since it presented paintings so different from what French ordinary people were used to seeing. The public especially made fun of Edouard Manet’s painting “Luncheon on the Grass,” which Napoleon III considered indecent. And the indecency lay in the fact that the painting depicted a naked woman next to dressed men. This greatly shocked the respectable bourgeoisie. “Luncheon on the Grass” immediately made Manet famous, the whole of Paris was talking about him, a crowd always stood in front of the picture, unanimous in their anger. But the scandal with the painting did not shake the artist at all. Soon he wrote Olympia, which also became the subject of the most vehement attacks. Indignant spectators crowded in front of the painting, calling Olympia “the Batignolles laundress” (Manet’s workshop was located in the Batignolles quarter of Paris), and the newspapers called it an absurd parody of Titian’s Venus of Urbino. In all centuries, Venus has been revered as the ideal of female beauty; in the Louvre and other museums around the world there are many paintings with nudes female figures. But Manet called for looking for beauty not only in the distant past, but also in modern life , this is something the enlightened philistines did not want to come to terms with. “Olympia,” a nude model lying on white bedspreads, is not the Venus of past centuries. This is a modern girl, whom, in the words of Emile Zola, the artist “threw onto the canvas in all her youthful... beauty.” Manet replaced the ancient beauty with a Parisian model who was independent, proud and pure in her artless beauty, depicting her in a modern Parisian interior. “Olympia” even seemed like a commoner who had invaded high society; she was today’s, real, perhaps one of those who looked at her while standing in the exhibition hall. Manet simplifies the underlying Titian construction of Olympia. Instead of an interior, behind the woman’s back there is an almost drawn curtain, through the gap of which a piece of the sky and the back of a chair can be seen. Instead of maids standing at the wedding chest, Manet has a black woman with a bouquet of flowers. Her large, massive figure further emphasizes the fragility of the naked woman. However, not a single picture has ever aroused such hatred and ridicule; the general scandal around it reached its peak here, official criticism called it “an immoral invasion of life.” Acquaintances turned away from Manet, all the newspapers turned against him... “No one has ever seen anything more cynical than this “Olympia”, “This is a female gorilla made of rubber”, “Art that has fallen so low, not even worthy of condemnation,” wrote the Parisian press. A hundred years later, one French critic testified that “the history of art does not remember such a concert of curses as the poor Olympia heard.” Indeed, it is impossible to imagine what kind of bullying and insults this girl, this black woman and this cat did not endure. But the artist wrote his “Olympia” very delicately, tenderly and chastely , but the crowd, excited by criticism, subjected her to cynical and wild mockery. The frightened administration of the Salon placed two guards at the painting, but this was not enough. The crowd, “laughing, howling and threatening this new-found beauty with canes and umbrellas,” did not disperse even in front of the military guard. At one point he even refused to guarantee the safety of the Olympia, as several times the soldiers had to draw their weapons to protect the nakedness of that thin, lovely body. Hundreds of people gathered in front of Olympia from the very morning, craned their necks and looked at it only to then shout vulgar curses and spit on it. “A whore who imagines herself to be a queen,” - this is how the French press called one of the most tender and chaste works of painting day after day. And then the painting was hung above the door of the last hall in the Salon, at such a height that it almost disappeared from view. The French critic Jules Claretie enthusiastically reported: “The shameless girl who came out from under Manet’s brush was finally assigned a place where even the basest daub had never been before.” The angry crowd was also outraged by the fact that Manet did not give up. Even among his friends, few dared to speak out and publicly defend the great artist. One of these few were the writer Emile Zola and the poet Charles Baudelaire, and the artist Edgar Degas (also from the Salon of Rejects) said then: “The fame that Manet won with his Olympia and the courage that he showed can only be compared with fame and courage of Garibaldi." The original concept of “Olympia” was related to Charles Baudelaire’s “catwoman” metaphor, which runs through a number of his poems dedicated to Jeanne Duval. The connection with poetic variations is especially noticeable in Manet's original drawings for Olympia, but in final version this motive is complicated. A cat appears at the feet of the naked “Olympia” with the same burning gaze of rounded eyes. But he no longer caresses the woman, but bristles and looks into the space of the picture, as if protecting his mistress’s world from outside intrusion. After the closure of the Salon, Olympia was doomed to almost 25 years of imprisonment in Manet’s art workshop, where only the artist’s close friends could see it. Not a single museum, not a single gallery, not a single private collector wanted to purchase it. During his lifetime, Mane never received recognition from Olympia. More than a hundred years ago, Emile Zola wrote in the Evenman newspaper: “Fate had prepared a place in the Louvre for Olympia and Luncheon on the Grass,” but it took many years for his prophetic words to come true. In 1889, a grandiose exhibition was being prepared to mark the 100th anniversary of the Great french revolution, and Olympia was personally invited to take pride of place among best paintings. There she captivated a rich American who wanted to buy the painting for any money. It was then that a serious threat arose that France would forever lose Manet’s brilliant masterpiece. However, only the friends of the deceased Manet by this time sounded the alarm about this. Claude Monet offered to buy Olympia from the widow and donate it to the state, since it itself could not pay. A subscription was opened, and the required amount was collected - 20,000 francs. All that remained was “a mere trifle” - to persuade the state to accept the gift. According to French law, a work donated to the state and accepted by it must be exhibited. This is what the artist’s friends were counting on. But according to the unwritten “table of ranks” at the Louvre, Manet had not yet “pulled up”, and had to be content with the Luxembourg Palace, where “Olympia” stayed for 16 years - alone, in a gloomy and cold hall. Only in January 1907, under the cover of darkness, quietly and unnoticed, was it transferred to the Louvre. And in 1947, when the Museum of Impressionism was opened in Paris, Olympia took the place in it to which it had the right from the day of its birth. Now the audience stands in front of this painting with reverence and respect. Sources - Nadezhda Ionina "100 great paintings", Henri Perryucho "Edouard Manet".