Felines aren't the only catty ones

Olympia 

Edouard Manet 

Olympia

oil on canvas

4'3" x 6' 2 1/4"

1863

Manet was French painter from the early to late 1800s. He was one of the first painters to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to the new style, Impressionism. A son to a military man in a wealthy family, his father wanted him to join the navy, but after several failed missions and trips, his father relented and Manet went and went to an art school and became a painter with his friend. 

" There's no symmetry in nature. One eye is never exactly the same as the other. There's always a difference. We all have a more or less crooked nose and an irregular mouth." 

This painting was done at a time when most nude paintings were very coy. It was sexualized and brought elements from the renaissance. Meanwhile, in Manet's Olympia, it is obvious that there is nothing coy about this or the situation. The woman in the painting is a high-class prostitute and is staring directly at the audience. In other nude paintings, everything is precise and graduated and the woman is never looking at the audience. Manet wanted to show a different view, he wanted people to be able to tell it was really paint, it was a corruption of the times in France in that era. It was real and modern life. 

I chose this piece for the theme of Wild Cats, because in the end, aren't we all wild? I feel it connects to the theme because many times, people liken a woman to cats, and one thing is true, both women and cats will do as they please. The woman stares directly at the audience, unblinking, almost unnerving, much like a cat will do. This is a woman who will not back down, who in her own right and way, is a fierce woman, qualities which I find in many cats as well. You don't need to be a cat to exactly be a wild cat.