A Modern Olympia is a work that runs parallel with Édouard Manet’s Olympia . Both works were executed in 1863 during the Second French Empire. Unlike Manet's Olympia , Cézanne’s painting was not inspired by ancient history, but by the work of another artist who was an École des Beaux-Arts student. The difference between these two paintings, however, was much more pronounced than their chronological proximity. We do not know whether the great painter Paul Cézanne ever saw the original Olympia or not when he portrayed his model Germaine Lecomte. At the time of this work, she was twenty-three years old and had posed for him several times before.
The idea for A Modern Olympia came about during Cézanne’s stay with Doctor Paul Gachet at Auvers-sur-Oise. Cézanne had a burst of inspiration amid a heated discussion, during which he sketched out the adaptation of Manet’s painting. In the painting, Cézanne used luminous and bright colors and was painted in an Impressionist manner. Cézanne’s interpretation A Modern Olympia was exhibited in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 and was poorly received by both the public and critics.
