Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau)
1883–84 · Oil on canvas
Dimensions 82 1/8 x 43 1/4in. (208.6 x 109.9cm) Framed: 95 3/4 x 56 5/8 x 5 in. (243.2 x 143.8 x 12.7 cm)
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Credit Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1916
Madame Pierre Gautreau (the Louisiana-born Virginie Amélie Avegno; 1859–1915) was known in Paris for her artful appearance. Sargent hoped to enhance his reputation by painting and exhibiting her portrait. Working without a commission but with his sitter’s complicity, he emphasized her daring personal style, showing the right strap of her gown slipping from her shoulder. At the Salon of 1884, the portrait received more ridicule than praise. Sargent repainted the shoulder strap and kept the work for over thirty years. When, eventually, he sold it to the Metropolitan, he commented, “I suppose it is the best thing I have done,” but asked that the Museum disguise the sitter’s name.
2,899 collected·3,240 zoomed·58 comments·3 boards
This artwork is in 3 boards
About this artwork
Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) (1883–84) by John Singer Sargent, oil on canvas, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection.
About John Singer Sargent
"Painter. Sargent traveled in a circle of socially prominent people and is known for his loosely painted portraits done in a style reminiscent of Edgar Degas and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.
More by John Singer Sargent
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