"Olympia"
Edouard Manet
When
Olympia
was presented at the Salon of 1865, out of all the paintings on the
walls (and this is believed to have numbered in the thousands), it was
Olympia that caused a major uproar. Such a realistic
portrayal of prostitution so outraged Parisians that Olympia
had to be moved near the Salon's high ceiling for its own
protection. The uproar at the Salon was a frontal assault on the established
methods of painting and the Salon was "the field of battle", according to
Manet. The critics fought back and so did the public -- Manet was intensely
hated, scoffed at, ridiculed and made the butt of countless jokes. Critics
universally denounced the painting's unashamed immorality. But in the decades
to follow, both
Luncheon on the Grass and Olympia were recognized
as groundbreaking masterpieces. And both found a home in the world's most
renowned art museum, the Louvre.