Édouard Manet: The Art of Scandal

Why did a painting of a naked woman cause such outrage in nineteenth-century Paris?

Nudity was nothing new in art, yet Manet’s Olympia scandalised the public. His paintings challenged not only what people expected to see, but how they expected to look. From the confrontational gaze of Olympia to the mysterious reflections of A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, Manet created pictures that still unsettle and intrigue us today. Rose explores the extraordinary tension at the heart of his career: a man eager for establishment recognition, yet determined to paint modern life on his own terms. What happens when a painting refuses to let us look comfortably?