Many modern critics have simply followed the mistaken assumption that Olympia is a portrait of a prostitute. But by looking carefully at the picture and analysing its details, you can see that she is a courtesan, not a whore. Three important critics have explained how Edouard Manet boldly defied the traditional painting of the nude in his controversial masterpiece.
Into this world of conventional goddesses, Manet presumed to introduce a modern Parisienne, an Olympia lying on a bed. To place on a naked body a head with so much individual character is to jeopardise the whole [mythological] premise of the nude, and Manet succeeds only because of his perfect tact and skill as a painter. Her arms, crossed behind her head, raise and spread her full but perky breasts.
She has a narrow waist, and reveals a thin veil of pubic hair between her legs, which extend along the cushioned bed. The utter lack of any ornament stands in sharpest contrast to the pleasures suggested by the Maja. Beneath her is spread a kind of Indian shawl of a yellow tinge, slightly figured with flowers. Behind the bed a negress is bringing her mistress a large bouquet, the brilliant tones of which are juxtaposed with the utmost daring.
The whole is completed by a black cat, with arched back, placed on the bed at the side of the negress. She wears delicate drop-earrings, a thin black choker tied in a bow, with a charm, and a thick gold bracelet, from which dangles a locket. The only other things she wears are satin mules, medium heel, with blue and gold trim.
The painting of Olympia, reclining on her amply pillowed bed, is structured by connected and contrasting colours. The black choker is echoed in the Black maid and the black cat.
