Manets Olympia

Today I took my time and really studied Manets OLYMPIA for about 1 hour. Your able to get very close to the painting without glass in between you and the canvas. I got a real good look at her expression, originally I felt it was more angry and rebellious but on a closer look it struck me as sad and confined. It affected me more than anything else I saw at the D Orsey, Manets Olympia is a prostitute who receives flowers from her john-lover. When you can look at the near lifesize face (big painting) it totally changed my interpretation, I recognised a look in her that I had seen in Thailand-Cambodia, a sadness, a frustration that I had missed before when looking at the book versions. I am not sure how much time Manet spent in the brothals of Paris (he died of Syphilis) but he got the expression just right on Olympias face.




I also saw some carvings by Gaugain that I somehow missed my first visit, stunning in there raw power. There was a mask that also had a full figure in shadow on the inside that was particularly moving.