Nana by Édouard Manet shows a young woman who stands before a mirror with two extinguished candles; her face turned to the viewer. Her dress is incomplete.
She is wearing a white chemise, blue corset, silk stockings, and high-heeled shoes. The interior suggests that it is a boudoir. Behind the woman is a sofa with two pillows.
An elegantly dressed man sitting on the couch can be partly seen on the right of the painting.
The title and the many details suggest that the picture represents a high-class prostitute and her client. “Nana” was a popular assumed name for female prostitutes during the second half of the 19th century.
Painted in 1877, it was refused at the Salon of Paris because it was deemed contemptuous of the time’s morality.
French society was not prepared for such frank depictions of prostitution, and the critics did not see the artistic qualities of the work as they focused on the subject of the painting.
One of Manet’s defenders was Émile Zola, who, in 1880, published a novel of the same name as the ninth volume of Les Rougon-Macquart series.
It is also likely that Manet found inspiration in L’Assommoir by Zola in which the character of Nana.
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life and was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
His early masterpieces, about 20 years earlier than this painting, caused much controversy and served as an influence for the young painters who would create Impressionism.
In the last two decades of Manet’s life, he develops his style that served as a significant influence on future painters.
Nana
- Title: Nana
- Artist: Édouard Manet
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Date: 1881
- Dimensions: Height: 154 cm (60.6 ″); Width: 115 cm (45.2 ″)
- Museum: Kunsthalle Hamburg
Édouard Manet
- Name:
- Édouard Manet
- Born: 1832 – Paris, France
- Died: 1883 (aged 51) – Paris, France
- Nationality: French
- Notable works:
- Olympia
- A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
- In the Conservatory
- The Balcony
- Spring
- Nana
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Édouard Manet- Understanding Modern Art
Berlin Museums
- The Pergamon Museum
- Neues Museum
- Altes Museum
- Alte Nationalgalerie – National Gallery (Berlin)
- Bode Museum
- Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
- Spy Museum Berlin
- Jewish Museum, Berlin
- Deutsches Historisches Museum – German Historical Museum
- DDR Museum
- German Resistance Memorial Center
“Édouard Manet and the Illusion of Effortlessness”
Munich Museums
- Art Galleries
- Alte Pinakothek
- Neue Pinakothek
- Pinakothek der Moderne
- Lenbachhaus
- Museum Brandhorst
- Greek and Roman Art
- Glyptothek
- Staatliche Antikensammlungen
- Egyptian Art
- Staatliche Sammlung für Ägyptische Kunst
- Kunsthalle Munich
- Deutsches Museum – German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology
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“Color is a matter of taste and of sensitivity.”
– Édouard Manet
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Photo Credit: Édouard Manet [Public domain]
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