Wanting to make a clever illustration to Woody Allen's short story "The Whore of Mensa", I looked to the masters. The story is about a flipped world where call girls engage in intellectual stimulation instead of physical, and who's the most well-known call girl in art history? "Olympia" by Manet! 

Using a sort of geeky art history reference in my piece felt like it was even more perfect to go along with the short story, so I recreated Olympia's famous pose, except clothed and reading. The pose is still a bit suggestive, as the character in the story is a sex worker (one might say a brain worker?), and to replace her lady's maid is the detective, another character in the story. I used a more painterly style, not afraid to show my brushstrokes like Manet. It's not an exact copy, but similar enough as to be recognizably referencing the piece.