Madame Gautreau (Madame X) (c. 1883) by John Singer Sargent

  • Artwork Name
    Madame Gautreau (Madame X) (c. 1883)
  • Artist
    John Singer Sargent (),
  • Dimensions
    Oil on canvas
  • Collection Source
    Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • License
    Public Domain Content: Free for Personal & Commercial Use
  • 1708 x 2400 pixels, JPEG, 2.83 MB
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About the Artist

John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent, an American portrait painter born in Florence, Italy, renowned for capturing individuality and Edwardian opulence. Trained under Carolus-Duran in Paris, his work blended realism and Impressionist light. Masterpiece Madame X sparked scandal but became iconic. Later focused on watercolors and murals, leaving 900 oil paintings and 2,000 watercolor

Artwork Story

John Singer Sargent’s *Madame Gautreau (Madame X)* is a portrait that crackles with tension, capturing the subject’s striking elegance while hinting at something bolder beneath the surface. The painting’s daring composition—her pale skin glowing against a dark background, the plunging neckline of her black gown—sent shockwaves through Parisian society when first exhibited. Sargent’s brushwork is both precise and fluid, rendering the sheen of fabric and the softness of skin with equal mastery, yet it’s the woman’s defiant posture and aloof expression that linger in memory.

Madame Gautreau, an American expatriate known for her beauty and unconventional style, became the perfect muse for Sargent’s exploration of modern femininity. The artist originally painted one strap of her dress slipping off the shoulder, a detail so scandalous he later repainted it. Even so, the work remains charged with an unapologetic sensuality, its cool tones and sharp contrasts mirroring the tension between propriety and rebellion. More than a portrait, it’s a study in allure and the power of suggestion.

Click to see the Madame X original.

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