Olympia

Olympia (1863) by Édouard Manet. Its palette is led by charcoal (#1c1c1b, 40%) and bone (#d1c8af, 31%), with accents of grey and dark brown. Overall the canvas is mid-toned, muted and warm.

Color note

Manet flattened modelling into bold lights and darks and treated black as a color in its own right, as in Olympia and The Balcony.

Palette

#1c1c1b MG 222 charcoal 39.6% of canvas
#d1c8af MG 171 bone 31.0% of canvas
#a4a79b MG 172 oatmeal 10.1% of canvas
#ae9a73 MG 181 light sand 8.0% of canvas
#797c74 MG 215 grey 5.8% of canvas
#4e331e MG 169 dark brown 5.6% of canvas

Color families

Brown 43%, Black 39%, Gray 7%, White 7%, Yellow 3%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.53
Contrast: 0.65
Vividness: 0.025
Warmth: +1.00
Complexity: 145 cells
Hue range: 0.37
Focus: 0.24

Composition

52% of the visual weight is in the left half, 74% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.19 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 30% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 27% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: 1863
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 130.5 × 191.0 cm
Genre: nude
Collection: Musée d'Orsay, Paris

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