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"Madame
Pierre Gautreau (Madame X)"
John Singer Sargent
| When Madame X
was shown at the Salon of 1884 it instantly became a scandal in French
society as a result of the sexual suggestiveness of the Madame's pose, the
pale
pasty color of her skin and the reddish pink of her ear. The doors of the
Salon were hardly open before the picture was damned. The onslaught
was led by the Madame's relatives. A demand was made that the picture be
withdrawn. If the picture was not withdrawn the family planned to wait
until the Salon closed, take the painting and destroy it. Anticipating this,
Sargent, before the exhibition was over, took it away
himself. Madame Gautreaus reputation was apparently destroyed and John
left France shortly thereafter, never to truly regain his former standing as the
darling of Paris. After remaining many years in his studio the
portrait now figures as one of the glories of the Metropolitan Museum in
New York. |
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