The painting depicts Victorine Meurent, one of Manet's favourite models, naked and staring brazenly from the canvas. Painted in 1863, Olympia is a 130 x 195.5 centimetre oil on canvas painting now found in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. Read on for more details about how Manet came to paint Olympia, the public's reaction to the painting, and how it helped to shape the impressionist movement. But the painting was not hung in the Louvre for another 17 years. In 1890, Claude Monet organised a collection to buy it for the French state from Manet's widow, Suzanne, raising 20,000 francs. The painting went unsold in Manet's lifetime.But the controversy the painting caused cemented Manet's place as the leader of the impressionist movement. Manet was so horrified by the reaction that he fled to Spain to escape. Another said that Manet had produced a work of "perfect ugliness". The painting had to be moved, and extra security guards employed, after attempts were made to slash it with canes and umbrellas. They saw it as a crass depiction of an uncomfortable subject (prostitution was rife in 19th century Paris). The public reacted angrily to the painting.Olympia's maid is handing her a bunch of flowers, presumably from a satisfied customer, and there is a black cat with his tail extended on the far right. The painting shows a high-class prostitute called Olympia (Manet's model, Victorine Meurent) staring brazenly at the viewer.Olympia was painted by Edouard Manet in 1863, inspired by Titian's The Venus of Urbino, and exhibited at the Annual Exhibition (Salon) of France's Fine Arts Academy (the Academie des Beaux Arts).If you're in a hurry, here are the 5 key facts you need to know about the painting. Edouard Manet's Olympia is one of the most controversial, enduring and intriguing paintings from the impressionist movement.
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