Description of the painting by Edward Manet “Olympia”

Description of the painting by Edward Manet Olympia

Edouard Manet, when he painted this picture, obviously already then, rather scornfully applied to all official positions of art, therefore this masterpiece quite obviously differs from all his previous works, which were written before 1863. It is not possible to say clearly whether this is good or bad, but the fact that such a moment took place was obvious.

This work is thoroughly imbued with the experience of previous masters, but at that time, it was a breath of fresh air, in a stuffy and languid room, similar in style to the paintings. Of course, the nude female body fascinated and captivated many artists, before Edward Manet, and even after. But in the plots of the artist, at this moment, begins to look through the subtle style of impressionism. In this picture, clearly noticeable, comes to the fore a full generalization of the forms, as female, and the room, in general, increases the saturation of light. Now almost forgotten the use of light and shade in the third dimension.

Some of his contemporaries, did not particularly refer to this kind of paintings, and even called the work of Mane made in this style just playing cards. On the one hand, Olimpia has been done very casually in places, and quite sloppy strokes are seen, due to which sometimes it seems like a kind of incomplete picture. Of course, this work is one of the most significant, and most likely, is nothing more than a rather turning point in his life. Another noteworthy is that to work on this picture, Mane did not invite the model, with whom he usually painted, if not strange, but for this picture he called the real courtesan and mistress of Napoleon.


1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

Description of the painting by Edward Manet “Olympia”