Olympia's confrontational gaze caused shock and controversy when the painting was first exhibited at the 1865 Paris Salon, especially because a number of details in the picture identified her as a prostitute.

[4][5] The orchid flower in her hair, her bracelet, pearl earrings, the oriental shawl on which she lies, and the upright black cat[6] are symbols of wealth and sensuality.

[10] The painting deviates from the academic canon in its style, characterized by broad, quick brushstrokes, studio lighting that eliminates mid-tones, large color surfaces, and shallow depth.

Unlike the smooth idealized nude of Alexandre Cabanel's La naissance de Vénus, also painted in 1863, Olympia is portrayed as a real woman whose nakedness is emphasized by the harsh lighting.

[13] Though Manet's The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l'herbe) had sparked controversy in 1863, his Olympia stirred an even bigger uproar when it was first exhibited at the 1865 Paris Salon.

Even Émile Zola was reduced to disingenuously commenting on the work's formal qualities rather than acknowledging the subject matter: "You wanted a nude, and you chose Olympia, the first that came along".

"[16] Although originally overlooked, the figure of the maid in the painting, modelled by a woman named Laure, has become a topic of discussion among contemporary scholars.

"[17][18] Olympia was created 15 years after slavery had been abolished in France and its empire, but negative stereotypes of black people persisted among some elements of French society.

[20]According to Timothy Paul, some black feminists, including Lorraine O'Grady, have argued that it is not for artistic convention that Manet included Laure but to create an ideological binary between black and white, good and bad, clean and dirty and as such "inevitably reformulates the Cartesian perspectival logic that allows whiteness to function as the only subject of consideration".

[21] When paired with a lighter skin tone, the black female model stands in as signifier to all of the racial stereotypes of the West.

O'Grady points out that we know she represents 'Jezebel and Mammy' "and best of all, she is not a real person", rather she is object to the objectified and excluded from sexual difference according to Freudian theory.

[24] In January 2016, a Luxembourg performance artist, Deborah De Robertis, lay on the floor in front of the painting nude and mimicked the pose of the subject.