''Nana'' is a painting by French

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

. It was completed in 1877 and was refused at the Salon of Paris the same year. Manet decided to show his painting in the window of a shop on the Boulevard des Capucines, one of Paris’s main streets. The painting gathered attention and crowds during its exhibition, due to Manet's fame in Paris. The work is now at the

Kunsthalle Hamburg The Hamburger Kunsthalle is the art museum of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany. It is one of the largest art museums in the country. It consists of three connected buildings, dating from 1869 (main building), 1921 (Kuppelsaal) and ...

art museum in Germany.

Description

The painting shows a young and beautiful woman who stands before a mirror with two extinguished

candle A candle is an ignitable candle wick, wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a Aroma compound, fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. ...

s, her face turned to the spectator. Her dress is incomplete; she wears a white chemise, blue

corset A corset /ˈkɔːrsɪt/ is a support garment worn to constrict the torso into the desired shape and Posture correction, posture. They are traditionally constructed out of fabric with boning made of Baleen, whalebone or steel, a stiff panel in th ...

, silk stockings and

high-heeled footwear High-heeled shoes, also known as high heels (colloquially shortened to heels), are a type of shoe with an upward-angled sole. The heel in such shoes is raised above the ball of the foot. High heels cause the legs to appear longer, make the wea ...

. The interior suggests that it is a

boudoir A (; ) is a woman's private sitting room or salon in a furnished residence, usually between the dining room and the bedroom, but can also refer to a woman's private bedroom. The term derives from the French verb ''bouder'' (to sulk or pout ...

. Behind the woman is a sofa with two pillows. An elegantly dressed man, sitting on the sofa, can be partly seen on the right of the painting. On the left side, there is a chair, a table and a

flowerpot A flowerpot, planter, planterette or plant pot is a container in which flowers and other plants are cultivated and displayed. Historically, and still to a significant extent today, they are made from plain terracotta with no ceramic glaze, wit ...

Interpretations

Both the title and the numerous details suggest that the picture represents a high class

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

and her client. "Nana" was a popular assumed name for female prostitutes during the second half of the 19th century (much like the connotation "Candy" has had for English-speakers more recently). Even today the French word "nana" is used to describe a frivolous woman (or simply "a female" in ''

argot A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argo ...

''). The model for the painting was Henriette Hauser, a well-known

courtesan A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person. History In European feudal society, the co ...

of the era.

Reception

Manet wanted to present the painting at the Salon of Paris but it was rejected because it was deemed to be contemptuous of the morality of the time. French society was not prepared for such frank depictions of prostitution, and the critics did not see the artistic qualities of the work and concentrated solely on the scene which was represented. One of the defenders of Manet was

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...

who in 1880 published a novel of the same name as the ninth volume of ''

Les Rougon-Macquart ''Les Rougon-Macquart'' () is the collective title given to a cycle of twenty novels by France, French writer Émile Zola. Subtitled ''Histoire naturelle et sociale d'une famille sous le Second Empire'' (''Natural and social history of a family u ...

'' series. However, there is no clear evidence of mutual inspiration in the choice of the theme and the title as the book was published three years later. It is likely that Manet found inspiration in ''

L'Assommoir , published as a serial in 1876, and in book form in 1877, is the seventh novel in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series '' Les Rougon-Macquart''. Usually considered one of Zola's masterpieces, the novel — a study of alcoholism and poverty in the ...

'', Zola's previous book, in which the character of Nana appears for the first time.

References

* The article is a translation of Polish article "Nana (obraz Maneta)" as of 2010-03-24 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nana Portraits by Édouard Manet Portraits of women 1877 paintings 19th-century portraits Paintings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle Mirrors in art

Description

Interpretations

Reception

See also

References