olympia

The Olympia and Marilyn Diptych is a pair of contemporary paintings made by two separate painters with diverse ancestries and completed over a century apart. Edouard Manet (1832–1883), a French realist artist and one of the founders of modern art, painted Olympia in 1863 in oil on canvas. The painting is 190 cm by 130 cm in size. On the other hand, Andy Warhol (1928–1987), an American artist who was a key figure in the pop art movement, produced Marilyn Diptych in 1962 as a silk-screen painting. The art measures 2054mm by 1448mm by 20mm. the aim of this essay is to discuss, compare and contrast the two pieces of art.

To begin with, each artist’s creation of the artwork was influenced by the happenings of their time. For instance, Olympia was made at a time when prostitution had become so rampant in Paris and therefore, this might have influenced Manet to paint Olympia which depicts a nude woman, reclining on a bedstead. The woman has a ribbon round her neck, a pink flower on her hair, a gold wristlet and a shoe - one has carelessly dropped on the bed. Next to the nude woman is a fully clothed black woman, perhaps her maid, bearing flowers. The nude lady stares directly at the viewer placing them in the position of her client. Her left hand is firmly placed on her lumbar area and she seems disinterested at the flowers which are presumably from one of her clients. At the end of the bed is a black cat that is also staring at the viewer. Marilyn Diptych was created at a time when popular culture had emerged and hence, the media heavily influenced the artist. The artwork is based on a promotional photo, from a 1953 Niagara film, of an actress by the name Marylyn Monroe. The artwork comprises fifty pictures of the actress which are bright on one side and fading on the other. The painting was completed after the death of the actress in 1962.

Furthermore, Manet was a realist and he based his painting on the subject matter of prostitution, a thing that was common in Paris at the time. Therefore, Olympia is a Parisian prostitute. By painting a prostitute with a direct provocative gaze at the viewer, Manet went against the old traditions of the French paintings hence he played a major role in the modernizing of the French paintings. Warhol on the other hand, was a pop artist and his work is majorly influenced by the culture of popular art and history. Ever since he was a kid, Warhol was fascinated by celebrities and that could have influenced him to paint Monroe who was a star actress.

Regarding their compositions, Warhol’s composition is based on the works of preceding painters such as Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings. Just like Pollock’s painting, there is uniform distribution of color and form in his painting and hence the observer’s eyes do not focus on one point but instead wanders all over the painting. The art can be described as an allover painting. Moreover, Jasper Johns also influenced Warhol’s work hence the use of photographic images, the silkscreen procedure as well as repetition in making art concerning his culture. Similarly, Manet’s artwork was highly influenced by his predecessor Titan as seen in the composition of his painting which in many ways resembles Titan’s Venus of Urbino.

There is use of contrast in both images. In Olympia, the background is painted with dark colors while Olympia herself is brightly colored and this draws the viewers’ attention to the subject of the painting. In Marylyn Diptych half of the images on the left side are bright in color, while the rest half on the right side are dark in color. This arrangement of colors suggests details about the actress’s lifestyle. Moreover, both artists use symbolism in their work. In Olympia, the ornaments that the nude woman is wearing are a sign of wealth. The fact that Olympia is gazing directly at the viewer implies that she is not ashamed of her nudeness- could be she is used to staying nude- and that symbolizes promiscuity. The black cat is as well a symbol of promiscuity. In Marylyn Diptych, the images are repeated fifty times, and this repetition symbolizes that the actress was popular person and, though gone, will remain a star and ever present in the media. Additionally, Warhol uses contrast of bright color with black and white- the bright color symbolizing her vibrant life and the black and white, and fading effects symbolizing her fading star and the eventual inevitable death. However, unlike Olympia, there is balance in Marilyn Diptych as the images are evenly distributed on both sides of the photograph and this avoids any discomfort.

One of the ways that the two works reflect modernism is the fact that both were not received well when they were first presented. Manet’ painting received harsh critics because of many reasons, one of them being that the woman depicted did not represent an ideal woman of the time. According to the French practice at the time, women were supposed to be molded on historic, biblical or legendary themes. Similarly, Warhol’s work was received with mockery as the critics did not see pop art as a serious but rather a foolish kind of art. According to them pop art was neither unique nor authentic and would therefore, quickly lose intrinsic values.

In addition, Manet’s work humanizes prostitution in a world where the act was considered a vice and no one dared talk about it, even though it was a common thing during the day. By doing this, the artist has purposely undermined the traditions of art school and its outdated philosophies, which he believed had no place in an advanced arts era, in a modern French society. To him, art was not a story about goddesses or queens but rather about real and ordinary life events. He was a realist. Besides, Olympia is painted with bold brush strokes which was considered an unskillful type of painting. In doing this, the artist wanted to be unique and he was also being creative. He did not want to do things in the traditional way as they were taught in art school but rather wanted to be unique. Similarly, Warhol created a new version of art that was unique. The artist chose to focus on promotional products to create his paintings instead of basing his paintings on real life situations just like his predecessors. In the end, Warhol just like Manet, became an inspiration to other artists and shaped the way art was produced by the subsequent generation.