And yet, it is also important to understand that not everyone criticized Manet, for it was also Dejeuner which set the stage for the advent of Impressionism.

Indeed, Manet emerged as something of an enfant terrible in the Parisian art scene of this era. In the same year, he would also produce Olympia, another painting featuring a female nude that would become the centre of much controversy. Olympia caused a major uproar when it was first exhibited in 1865 at the Salon in Paris. Despite the fact that it calls to mind the classical images of Giorgione (Venus Sleeping), Titian (Venus of Urbino), and Ingres (Odalisque with a Slave), the public was outraged by Manet's depiction of a common prostitute laying nude on a bed. A black female servant stares at her as she fixes the Madame's bed, while a black cat stands on edge at the end of the...
[ View Full Essay]