Olympia's Look

Edouard Manet. Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, 1863. 208x264cm, (84x 106in). Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Victorine levelled at her that same look that had beguiled Edouard, the look that so enraged the public, a look that seemed like a natural one for Victorine, a look not only tinged with insolence, but indifference.

"I collaborated with him."

"Collaborated! Who stood behind him at the scandal of Déjeuner when they called him a renegade and barbarian? Where were you when he was pelted with a hail of insults while the Olympia was at the Salon?"

"I'd done what he needed. That was all I owed him."