Madame X and the Making of a Master

To mark the centenary of the artist’s death, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is exhibiting more than 100 paintings, watercolors, and drawings that trace the transformative decade John Singer Sargent spent in Paris. Organized by the Met and the Musée d’Orsay, “Sargent and Paris” opens in 1874 as the talented 18-year-old American student wowed friends and teachers with his precocious drawings and sketches.

Never satisfied, he paid close attention to both historic masterworks and contemporary art, and, thanks to his privileged upbringing in Europe, he kept finding memorable subjects during excursions in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and North Africa.

Met curator Stephanie L. Herdrich observes, “Sargent’s career was indelibly shaped by the time he spent in Paris. Over the course of one remarkable decade, he created the boldest and most daring paintings of his oeuvre.” These include an array of ambitious portraits — flattering, if provocative, likenesses that gratified his patrons and their desire for social status. Enjoying Paris at the apogee of its glamour, Sargent became immersed in a cosmopolitan circle of artists, writers, and patrons while navigating a successful path through the competitive French exhibition system, achieving acclaim and awards.

This formative decade culminated with the scandalous success at the Salon of Sargent’s portrait “Madame X,” which he later described as “the best thing I’ve done.” Savagely attacked for its frank sexuality, the masterwork is explored in depth and, for the first time, is reunited with numerous preparatory drawings and paintings. An adjacent gallery displays portraits of Parisian ladies by the artists who inspired Sargent, and with whom he competed for commissions and recognition, including his teachers Carolus-Duran and Léon Bonnat, and such role models as Édouard Manet.

“Sargent and Paris”
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York City
metmuseum.org
through August 3, 2025

View fine art auctions, exhibitions, and more events by the month on our calendar page at FineArtConnoisseur.com – updated daily!