The Birth of Venus (French: Naissance de Venus) is a painting by the French artist Alexandre Cabanel. It was written in 1863 and is now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. A second, smaller version (85 x 135.9 cm) from ca. 1864 is in the Dahesh Art Museum. The third version (106 x 182.6 cm) dates from 1875; is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Shown to great success at the 1863 Paris Salon, The Birth of Venus was immediately purchased by Napoleon III for his personal collection. In the same year, Cabanel received the title of professor at the School of Fine Arts. Cabanel's combination of sensual and classical images appealed to the upper classes of society. Art historian and curator Robert Rosenblum wrote of Cabanel's The Birth of Venus that "This Venus hovers somewhere between an ancient deity and a modern dream"; he described the "uncertainty of her eyes, which appear to be closed, but a close look reveals that she is awake. Naked, who may or may not be asleep, is particularly frightening to the male viewer."