Edouard Manet

Edouard Manet
Olympia
Oil on canvas
51.4 × 74.8"
1863

Eduoard Manet (January 23 1832 - April 30 1883) was a French painter and one of the leading artists of the Impressionist movement.

Olympia is portrait of a prostitute being attended by a servant. It was unique for its time because of her "confrontational" stare. It shocked viewers and people thought it was vulgar, partly because it represents a "working woman" who is sexually independent of men.

The model for this was Manet's muse Victorine Meurent. She modeled for him for other shocking portraits, particularly one where she is naked in the woods with two clothed men. He always painted her with a look that is a cross between aloofness and confrontation, somehow challenging the viewer.