Edouard Manet (1832-1883) painted model Victorine Meurent (1844-1927) a total of nine different times, the most readily recognizable of which was the infamous Olympia, first exhibited in the 1865 Paris Salon show. Over the course of their artistic partnership, Manet painted her in the clothes of a street singer, as a young woman with a parrot, and in the costume of an Espada, among others. Meurent’s reputation has mostly been historically grounded in her role as Manet’s model, but beyond her modeling, she was a talented artist in her own right. In fact, in 1876, Meurent’s paintings were accepted into the prestigious Paris Salon show when Manet’s offerings for that year were rejected. Sadly, however, her work has been mostly lost to history. It is difficult to even find paintings by Meurent that have survived. Most recently, in 2004, her self portrait was rediscovered and now resides in Columbe, France, where she died at the age of 83.
This collection seeks to explore the ways that Meurent’s legacy has been impacted by the roles she played as Manet’s model. While she was painted as both a person of middle class status, and a prostitute, her legacy is more conflated with the latter. Peruse articles about her before a tiny resurgence of interest in her as a painter, and you will find records that assume she died relatively young, likely of some venereal disease, or from an issue with alcoholism. But instead of choosing to fill in the knowledge we do have about Meurent on the basis of certain modeling jobs she took on, what might it be like to sweep away our love for spectacle and drama, and make efforts to view Victorine Meurent more accurately as a skilled artist, and collaborator with Manet? In short, what might it be like to see Victorine Meurent as she saw herself?
Edouard Manet, Victorine Meurent, 1862, Oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Art, Boston
Victorine Meurent is eighteen in this portrait. This is regarded to be the first time she worked with Manet, and where the repeated motif of her bright red hair contrasted with a blue ribbon gets its start. She was a small woman, and that, in combination with her red hair, earned her the nickname “the Shrimp”. By the time Manet painted this, Meurent had already been working as a model in the studio of Thomas Couture, one of Manet’s instructors. This could have been how the connection between Manet and Meurent initially formed.
Edouard Manet, The Street Singer, 1862, Oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
This is the second time Manet used Meurent as a model. Sources debate over whether Meurent was the actual street singer or simply the model for this particular piece. She was known to sing in cafes, and played both the guitar and the violin. Through modern eyes, this might suggest that she was a woman of low status, likely scrabbling to make a living, which could have contributed to the perspective that she was a street girl. But contextually, this doesn’t suggest that she was a prostitute, courtesan, or doomed to die young of alcoholism, like many suggest. She was a talented woman, and so much more than a street performer.
Edouard Manet, Mademoiselle V… in the Costume of an Espada, 1862, Oil on canvas,
29.100.53
After a trip to Spain where he fell in love with Spanish culture and the Spanish painter Goya (1746-1828), Manet used Meurent as a model for this painting. He depicts Meurent in the costume of a Spanish bullfighter. While women were fighting for a place in the bullring, it was still seen as almost satirical and absurdist for them to engage in this bloody, violent, and distinctively culturally masculine pastime. Manet seems to lean into that cultural sentiment of absurdity, depicting Meurent in completely incorrect footwear, and flashing a cape of the wrong color. Though the inadequacies of her equipment resonate more as an attempt to poke fun rather than to dignify, Meurent, in the words of the MET, “carries it off with panache”, and has a power and grace all her own, apart from the rest of the scene.
Edouard Manet, Olympia, 1863, Oil on canvas, Musées d'Orsay et de l'Orangerie
The most controversial of Manet’s paintings, this piece caused a ruckus at the Paris Salon of 1865. Meurent posed nude for the portrait, clearly evoking a scene of prostitution. Horribly received, Olympia was mercilessly criticized by Manet’s contemporaries. Given that prostitution was widespread in France at the time but still a significant taboo, this confrontational painting of a confrontational woman was shocking to original audiences. There is a defiance– an autonomous and confrontational look in Olympia’s eyes. Her gaze is fixed on viewers, unflinchingly. This attitude, in contrast to the long lineage of vastly more passive reclining female nudes, subverted expectations of how unclothed female bodies might be portrayed. It is also significant to note the cultural understanding that only prostitutes or courtesans would pose nude.
One of the documented reasons Manet enjoyed working with Meurent was his draw to one of her most distinguishing features: her red hair, most prominently displayed in The Railway. Interestingly enough, this is one painting where her hair is more brown than red. He never painted her hair with as muted tones as he did here, in this clear depiction of a prostitute, despite the iconographic history of red hair as a symbol of sexuality. Was this owing to the light in the room? His other paintings of her are similarly lit, but retain the vibrancy of her hair. Was Meurent as his collaborator attempting to preserve her reputation in the cutthroat art world by disguising herself ever so slightly? We cannot make assumptions, but it is hard not to imagine Meurent having some degree of artistic involvement in this painting aside from her role as a model.
Edouard Manet, Young Lady in 1886, 1886, oil on canvas, 89.21.3
In contrast to the brazen Olympia, here, Meurent is modeled as demure and tame. The pet bird trade was picking up in Paris towards the end of the 17th century, and here she stands with the increasingly familiar but still somewhat exotic parrot. Her red hair is prominent in the muted palette, and contrasts with the blue bow in her hair. This is not a prostitute. This is a young lady with a pet bird, looking like she is winding down for the evening, and enjoying the companionship of her pet. Based on what we actually know of Meurent, this sort of depiction could be much more aligned to her real life than the prostitute depicted in Olympia. She came from a family of artists, worked in painting studios, and as noted, was a skilled musician: teaching both guitar and violin.
Victorine Meurent, Self portrait, 1876, Oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
This portrait depicts Meurent a little over a decade after she began working with Manet, and several years after she began studying painting under the portrait artist Etienne Leroy. Drawn to more traditional techniques, she and Manet parted ways after his last painting of her in 1873. She submitted a self portrait to the 1876 Paris Salon, potentially this one, and was accepted for the first time. She would go on to have work displayed five more times in the highly exclusive show.
Until assessing her own portrait, it is hard to even notice the glazed over expressions and features that seem to dominate her as a whole when depicted by Manet. When contrasted, the differences are notable. Meurent’s self portrait, though slightly stylized, depicts her in a much more naturalistic way: attentive and poised, beyond even the combative gaze of Olympia. She looks much more like the few surviving photographs of her in her own portrait. While some of this is tied to stylistic differences between Manet and Meurent, the way she views herself had unavoidable influence on her choices when creating this self portrait. She is not a woman of the streets. She is not a courtesan. She is not simply the muse of a famous painter. She is awake. She is a woman with dignity. She is an artist. She is herself.
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