A bar at the folies-bergère

"Shocking" was the word used to describe Édouard Manet's masterpiece when it was first unveiled in Paris in 1865.

Although the nude body has been visual art's most enduring and universal subject, it has often spurred conflict.

Olympia is a painting of a reclining nude woman, attended by a maid and a black cat, gazing mysteriously at the viewer. Why were visitors to the Paris gallery, already quite familiar with art featuring the naked body, so outraged by the painting that the gallery was forced to hire two policemen to protect the canvas?

Manet olympia original

The objections to Olympia had more to do with the realism of the subject matter than the fact that the model was nude. While Olympia's pose had classic precedents, the subject of the painting represented a prostitute.

In the painting, the maid offers the courtesan a bouquet of flowers, presumably a gift from a client, not the sort of scene previously depicted in the art of the era. Viewers weren't sure of M