Today Olympia is priceless, and is generally considered a masterpiece by most. Olympia first became a goddess when the French authorities rearranged their collections of treasures and assembled about five hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the Jeu de Paume museum on the Place de la Concorde. Then when the French authorities decided to move their treasures again, Olympia was placed in a new museum, which was created out of an old railroad station on the south bank of the Seine, the Gare d’Orsay. Although, her face is as still haunting as when it was first hung in 1865, now days when at first glance people admire enjoy and honour Olympia, her nudity, and her passionately deep, almost hypnotizing gaze.

Edouard Manet was born on January 29, 1832. Manet was well educated but showed a great liking toward drawing and the arts. His Uncle Charles Fournier encouraged Manet's appreciation for the arts and often took him and his friend, Antonin Proust, on outings to the Louvre. In 1850 Manet entered the studio of Thomas Couture and studied there until 1856. During this time, Paris began its massive transformation of the city under the supervision of Baron Haussmann. Haussmann's revitalization affected the physical environment of Paris as well as the cultural and social atmosphere. Thousands of jobs were created, stores redesigned, and buildings torn down and redeveloped. All of this happened to try to make Paris the most beautiful and cultural city in the world. It was this idea to change and up date things that sparked Manet to paint in an unusual, but remarkable manner.

Manet rebelled against the art industry of the time and rejected the traditional, style of painting and the usual themes. Taking Titian's Venus of Urbino as his model, Manet created a work he thought would have granted him a place in the group of great artists. However instead of following the accepted practices in French art of that time, which said that paintings of the figure were to be formed on historical, mythical, or biblical themes. Manet chose to paint a real woman. She wasn't the usual angel or goddess or a feminine ideal, but a courtesan. She was a modern woman, bold, shameless, and clearly unallegorical. By using a commoner courtesan or prostitute, it touched the nerves of many people. The commoner courtesan pricked the conscience of the male viewer, perhaps especially if his wife were holding on to one's arm sharing words of disrespect for the painting. Some may argue that this was a bad thing, others say that Manet had great power to really get into the viewers mind and play with their emotions, something that not many artists could do.

Another painting that did not cause, as much shock as Manet’s Olympia did, was Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres’ Grande Odalisque. Although both are nudes in full erotic poses, Ingres' nude refers b

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