While I understand this show does not require a painting dealing with the history of art, I selected this subject because I wanted to address an aspect of the history of art. Historically, women artists were underrepresented and discouraged from participation as artists. Victorine Meurent was a model for Manet and others in the 1800's, and this is what she is in fact known primarily for. However, she was an artist herself and had some of her paintings exhibited in the Paris Salon. A search online for her paintings turns up only one remaining painting (the one on the wall in my painting, which she called Le Jour des Rameaux); the location of the others is unknown and they may no longer exist. She is well known as the model in Manet's controversial Le Dejeuner sur L'Herbe and Olympia (from which I tried to capture her facial expression here), as well as others by Manet (and other artists). The vague figure in the background of my painting is Manet. Some have argued that our history of art is art from the viewpoint of male artists almost exclusively.