Manet’s Olympia

March 21st, 2012 Posted in Claude Monet

Claude Monet

Olympia by Edouard Manet is regarded as one of the finest impressionist paintings. Manet painted Olympia back in 1863 at the same time that he produced another notable work Le déjeuner sur l’herbe, The Luncheon on the Grass. This article discusses Olympia and the rest of the career of French impressionist Edouard Manet.

Olympia’s success is due to the role of the woman portrayed in the painting who was not of the typical standing of someone considered suitable for a portrait and her role within society was underlined by Manet’s careful selection of objects which were placed on and around the subject. Manet sought in Olympia an honesty and accuracy to social life that other artists and academics were not prepared for at that time. Manet consistently offered raw life with women serving the roles that society has granted them rather than trying to make reality look better than it was for the sake of the viewer who perhaps was only willing to see a painting that offered a classic portrait. Artists like Manet are essential for moving traditional thinking onwards and challenging existing ideas in the hope that their own work and that of similar but younger artists would flourish in later years once their own careers had laid down a great legacy.

Edouard Manet was an artist respected by many close friends in the art world including Claude Monet and Berthe Morisot but his finest works such as Olympia and Le déjeuner sur l’herbe struggled for academic acceptance at that time because of the traditional attitudes of many members of artistic institutions who were not open to the idea of progression and innovation which Manet unquestionably offered.

From a long career of exceptional achievement which is now fully understood and respected, Manet’s best paintings included Olympia, The Luncheon on the Grass, The Fifer, Bar at the Folies-Bergère, The Railway and The Grand Canal in Venice.

We can conclude that Olympia was a crucial painting within the career of Edouard Manet who himself left a great legacy as a member of the French impressionist movement which remains one of the most important group of artists over the past few centuries within European art. Manet’s role within impressionist was crucial, as was his self-confidence and desire to challenge the artistic norms of that period. Without this sort of bravery the impressionists would not have achieved such great success and changes with what academics of that time considered good art.

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