The original work dates back to 1863 and is kept at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Edouard Manet paints this canvas after many years of reflection on "The Venus of Urbino" by Tiziano, on the "Maja desnuda" by Francisco Goya and on "La grande odalisque" by Ingres. He does not follow the tradition or the bourgeois conventions, and the painting, exposed only in 1865 at the Salon, causes a sensation, both because of the dubious morality of the subject and because of the pictorial technique with which it is made. The juxtaposition of colours, the contrast between cold tones and warm tones, the point of origin of the cold light are some peculiarities of this painting. The lady is a prostitute and challenges the observer with her glacial gaze and the black cat is the symbol of her licentious life and freedom. The pictorial technique used to depict the bouquet of flowers announces the impressionist one. Critics condemn the painting as immoral, but some support the painter, like the writer Emile Zola, recognizing that Manet simply portrayed a symbol typical of the Parisian world, considered a taboo by bourgeois society.