Description
Olympia is a painting by Édouard Manet from 1863: a young nude woman lies on white sheets and pillows, an orchid in her hair and a black ribbon at her neck, and looks calmly at the viewer; a Black maid in a pink dress brings her a large bouquet wrapped in paper, and a black cat stands at the foot of the bed. The original, oil on canvas measuring 130.5 x 191 cm, belongs to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Our painter paints it for you by hand in oil on canvas, in 8 landscape sizes from 45 x 30 to 200 x 130 cm or made to measure. Before your Olympia leaves us, you receive a photograph of it.
| Title: | Olympia |
| Other titles: | Olimpia (Italian title) · Olimpija (Slovene title) |
| Painter: | Édouard Manet (1832–1883) |
| Year painted: | 1863 |
| Original size: | 130.5 cm x 191 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Realism and Impressionism |
| Located at: | Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Olympia – Édouard Manet
What does Olympia show?
A bed with white sheets and two large pillows runs across the canvas, and a young woman reclines on it, propped on one elbow. Unclothed and at ease, she rests one hand on the pillow and the other on her thigh, and her calm, serious face turns straight to us.
Her few adornments are carefully chosen: a pink orchid in her reddish hair, a pearl earring, a thin black ribbon with a pendant, a gold bracelet. A pale shawl embroidered with flowers lies beneath her, and one foot still wears a slipper.
On the right a Black maid in a pink dress and headscarf holds out a big bouquet in white paper. At the very edge, on the end of the bed, a black cat stands with its tail raised and its yellow eyes wide open, and Manet signed at the lower left.
Who posed, and what does the scene mean?
Olympia was modelled by the nineteen-year-old Victorine Meurent, the maid by a woman named Laure. Meurent later became a painter herself and exhibited at the Paris Salon.
The title is usually credited to Manet’s friend, the critic Zacharie Astruc, whose verses appeared beside the painting in the catalogue. In 1860s Paris the name Olympia was linked with courtesans, and viewers read the orchid, bracelet and cast-off slipper the same way: a woman of the Parisian demi-monde, not a goddess.
Manet took the pose from Titian’s Venus of Urbino (c. 1534). Where Titian put a little dog, a sign of fidelity, at the goddess’s feet, Manet put a black cat; where Titian painted a potted myrtle, a symbol of marriage, the maid brings cut flowers in flimsy paper that will soon wilt. Olympia ignores them.
The long-overlooked maid is now widely studied, notably since an essay by Lorraine O’Grady.
Why did Olympia cause a scandal?
Shown at the Paris Salon of 1865, it caused an even greater uproar than Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe, also known as Luncheon on the Grass, two years before. Critics called it immoral and vulgar; the journalist Antonin Proust later recalled that only the administration’s precautions saved the canvas.
Nudes were nothing new at the Salon. What shocked was a Parisian woman of the present, no goddess and no heroine of history, who shows no embarrassment and meets the viewer’s eye, painted in harsh light with broad, quick strokes, flat colour and hardly any mid-tones. Even the size, 130.5 x 191 cm, belonged by convention to edifying scenes from history and myth.
Émile Zola praised Manet’s honesty: other painters, he wrote, correct nature with their Venuses, while Manet asked why he should lie. Today Olympia counts as one of the starting points of modern art. The Wikipedia article on Olympia, in English, tells the story in more detail.
Where is the original today?
Olympia hangs in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, inventory number RF 644. In 1888, when Manet’s widow seemed ready to sell it, Claude Monet raised a public subscription among nearly a hundred donors, Degas, Renoir and Rodin among them; in 1890 the painting passed to the French state.
It went first to the Musée du Luxembourg, entered the Louvre in 1907 on the order of Georges Clemenceau, moved to the Jeu de Paume in 1947 and to the Musée d’Orsay in 1986.
Manet, born in Paris in 1832 to a wealthy family, trained under Thomas Couture and became one of the first painters of modern life, a pivotal figure between Realism and Impressionism.
Olympia or another Manet?
Olympia is a canvas painting for anyone who wants a work on the wall that was argued over more than almost any other in the 19th century.
For more of Manet’s modern Paris, see The Balcony, with three figures behind a green railing, or at his last major work, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, with a barmaid before a large mirror. For a quieter, brighter scene there is In the Conservatory, where a married couple sit among green plants.
Our whole selection of famous Manet paintings, each one painted to order, is gathered on the Édouard Manet page.
How do we hand-paint Olympia?
Manet’s original is a large oil on canvas, 191 cm wide. Ours is an Édouard Manet reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, layer by layer, in the size you choose.
The painter first sets down the long diagonal of the body, the bed, the maid and the cat, then the dark curtain and wall. The white sheets come next, built as in Manet from cool bluish greys and warmer tones rather than one flat white.
The body follows in light, almost flat tones with a thin dark outline, and the orchid, the ribbon, the bouquet and the cat’s yellow eyes come last.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: the small sizes for a library, hallway or home office, the middle ones above a chest of drawers or a bed, the largest for a long wall above the sofa.
We paint Olympia in 8 landscape sizes (width x height): 45 x 30, 56 x 40, 63 x 45, 83 x 57, 105 x 75, 120 x 83, 155 x 105 and 200 x 130 cm. The original measures 191 x 130.5 cm (width x height). Every size up to 155 x 105 cm is therefore smaller, while our largest, 200 x 130 cm, is about as wide and as tall as the canvas in Paris.
Sizes from 45 x 30 to 63 x 45 cm suit a shelf, a desk or a narrow wall; 83 x 57 to 120 x 83 cm hang well above a bed or a smaller sofa. As a painting for the living room it is strongest at 155 x 105 or 200 x 130 cm, where the white bed glows against the dark background.
Can I have another size or a frame?
Yes. For other proportions we keep the woman, the maid and the cat whole and adjust only the dark background and the bed. It remains a complete oil painting reproduction of the scene. Send us the measurements you need and we will quote a price and a date for your Olympia.
Your Olympia arrives rolled in a tube, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed; our workshop in Slovenia stretches and frames it and packs it for the journey. In our 3D app you choose the moulding and nothing else; seeing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
When will Olympia arrive?
Your Olympia is ready for dispatch 15 to 45 working days after you confirm the order. As soon as the canvas is finished we send you a photograph of it, and any change you ask for is made before packing.
Within the EU, Olympia travels to you without customs duties, and every order is covered by our returns policy.
For someone who loves art history, Olympia is a gift with a story behind it. Unsure of their wall? Then a wall art voucher leaves the choice of size to them.
Frequently asked questions
Which museum owns the original Olympia?
The Musée d’Orsay in Paris, under inventory number RF 644.
Who modelled for the woman on the bed?
Victorine Meurent, then nineteen, who later became a painter and showed her own work at the Salon.
Is it a print?
No. Yours is a hand-painted copy, brushed in oil on canvas by our painter.
How large is the original?
130.5 x 191 cm (height x width); our largest size, 200 x 130 cm, is about the same width.
Do you paint Olympia in sizes beyond the eight listed?
Yes. Give us the width and height you need and we will quote a price and a date.
How many working days does an Olympia take?
Between 15 and 45 working days until dispatch, with a photograph sent to you first.
Does Olympia suit a bedroom or a living room?
Yes. Its calm whites and deep greens sit well in a bedroom, a library or a living room.
Why is there a black cat in the painting?
Manet put it where Titian had placed a little dog, a symbol of fidelity, at the feet of his Venus of Urbino.
- Subject: a young nude woman on a white bed looking straight at the viewer, a maid with a bouquet and a black cat.
- Original: oil on canvas, 1863, 130.5 x 191 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
- Ours: hand-painted in oil on canvas, 8 sizes from 45 x 30 to 200 x 130 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: it caused a scandal at the 1865 Salon and is now seen as one of the starting points of modern art.
