The color of Olympia skin is almost white with very little shadow or darker skin tones to emphasize the shape of her body. The only high contrast shadow is under her hand, which was considered filthy, where it covers her genitals. . Olympia was rendered almost flat but because she is in the center of the painting as well as her skin is so bright comparing to the dark color of her surrounding that makes Olympia stands out the most. By giving a great contrast for Olympia and her surrounding environment, Manet drew the viewer's attention to Olympia, her beauty and her confident gazing eyes. Beside, by lacking of the perfection on the face as well as the body, Manet convinced viewers that Olympia was not Goddess like Venus but she was a real woman, a real prostitute, living in …show more content…
Prostitution, in most society, is considered as a crime. Sexual desire is actually one of the special needs of every creature on earth. Pleasing the desire for sex is not an evil act but using money to buy sexual service is not a right therefore prostitution is banned in most society in the world. Prostitute always receives negative attitude from everyone else and a prostitute is always disrespected by the society. But in Olympia, Manet depicted her as a beautiful prostitute who has all of the confident for herself. Olympia is not ashamed of who she is and what she is doing. She also ignores all of the negative thoughts and oppositional gaze from everyone else. Viewers of Olympia at that time were ignored by Olympia's confidence eyes just like she is ignoring the presence and the oppositional gaze of the black maid, who is a part of the background of the