Exhibition Tour—Sargent and Paris | Met Exhibitions

Madame X is an iconic work for the Met. It is a beloved painting and it's an object that is full of charged history, of society in transformation, and certainly also of artistic ambition. John Singer Sargent is the American painter, but where he really came to the fore was in Paris. This exhibition will expand your understanding of Sargent, of this painting, but also shows you the whole development of this important artist. Sargent in Paris is an exhibition that looks at the early career of John Singer Sargent, from his arrival in the French capital as an 18-year-old art student in 1874 until the mid-1880s when his best-known work, Madame X, creates an uproar at the Paris Salon. John Singer Sargent is known today as one of the greatest contemporary portrait painters of the late 19th and the early 20th century, but his work was so much more than that. He painted landscapes, genre scenes, he experimented with many different styles across the course of his career. He forged a unique path that made him quite successful and that pushed the boundaries of contemporary art for his time. This exhibition is a collaboration between the Met and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and represents a wonderful opportunity for our institutions to work together and combine iconic works from both of our collections. It has been such a pleasure to work with my colleagues at the Musée d'Orsay. Co-curators Caroline Corbeau-Parsons and Paul Perrin have just been amazing colleagues and essential contributors to this project. In this 10-year period, we really see how Sargent becomes an artist. He's young, he is bold, he's ambitious, he's absorbing everything in Paris and you just see his natural talent, his acumen, his hard work. He pours it all into these paintings. Many people will know Sargent mostly as a portrait painter, but I think it would be quite revealing for visitors to see the sheer variety of his art, to realise what an extraordinary talent he had and how quickly he comes to maturity in terms of style. He already has this incredible technique and this sensuality in the paint. It's really striking when you see all these works brought together. And I would agree also on the fact you can look closely at paintings in an exhibition like this. It's so much about the joy of putting paint on a canvas and I think when you go through the galleries and you arrive at the end, Madame X, you can really understand, I think, why this work is so special to him and for the history of art. Everything is so precisely thought. All the curves, the lines, the colours, the composition, it's not just a portrait, it's a true work of art. When Sargent arrives in Paris in May 1874, he's well prepared to start his artistic training and it's such an interesting time in Paris. He's still very much a teenager. He wants to learn from a progressive teacher like Carlos Duran, who teaches his students to draw with their brush directly onto the canvas. But at the same time, he wants to have the safety net, perhaps, of studying at the Beaux-Arts and learning all about drawing and then moving on to a living model. So it's interesting to see this sort of holistic education and background in this room. You have, yes, these astonishing drawings, almost photographic in detail, with this wonderful play on light and shade, and at the same time, more sensual paintings already with lots of paint already on the brush. I think it's so interesting to see how his brushwork develops. We really start to see the looseness, the expressive quality, and that's something that carries across his career. He only becomes better at it, but the seeds of it are all in this first room of the exhibition. During his summer breaks, Sargent was eager to continue his habit of traveling and exploring, and he spends several summers away from Paris, in the French countryside, in coastal towns, and Sargent is looking for picturesque subjects to paint, things that interest him to construct paintings for exhibition. En route pour l'Abeche is one of those paintings that he creates outside of Paris, in Cancale, to be more precise, and it was a very popular destination for French artists back then. And even though the subject is perhaps expected for an artist of his generation, there's quality of the light that's already very distinct. He composes and constructs the composition so carefully, but then the way he paints the light and how it sparkles and the reflection on the puddles, and you see the clouds in the puddles on the ground, the brilliant white strokes shining off of her sleeve or the bow of her hat or headpiece really brings it to life. There's so much attention to atmosphere and naturalism and representing the sand and the water and the landscape, but he has carefully planned this. He hired models and then posed them on the beach, but then crowds of onlookers would gather around and interrupt his work, so then he actually studied the figures in the courtyard of some building. This is a constructed, invented, recreated scene based on things he witnessed, but it's his own creation. And now some lovely sketches next to the painting that show how long he spent working on this picture, conceiving it. And really obsessing over details, right? The outfits of each figure, the way the shirts are tucked in, how they're holding the basket. He really works that out over the course of many, many studies to create a very precise impression. Sargent is passionate about travel. As he starts to wrap up his formal training, he begins to travel even further afield in Europe, to Spain and Venice, where he really captures the sense of the place, not by painting really touristic sites, but by kind of getting off the beaten path and showing the interesting side alleys. He really travels quickly and fast, as he's always done in his life, in search for subjects. And this is what he does with Fumé d'Ambregris. He goes to North Africa in order to create this extraordinary painting. It shows a woman dressed in white, holding her robe above her head in order to trap the perfume smoke of ambregris, which is burning at her feet in an incense burner. It's really a sort of poetic exercise. Critics looking at this painting described it as a melodic fantasy. And Sargent himself said that it was not about a narrative, that it was very much about the color, actually. It was more about white on white and silvery harmonies. The painting in which the sensuality is not as much in the subject matter, but very much in the sensuality of the paint itself. You see how carefully observed these layers of fabric are, how he sets it apart from the architecture, and even how he structures the architectural space with the subtlety of these shades of white and the shadows. The wonderful way he shows that incense burner and the jewels, of course, on her chest, where he seems to use almost pure white to create these very dramatic highlights. It's a very important work in terms of thinking of Sargent's entire career. There's nothing more difficult than to paint white on white. And it's an absolute tour de force, which is, of course, widely admired at the Salon. And the variation in the fabrics, that you sense that the fabric around her arms, inner sleeves, is something lighter and full of fold. This is skill that he will definitely transfer to his portraits. So all of these lessons are overlapping and uniting in his work in different ways. This is really an ambitious demonstration of his skill as an artist. It's really astonishing to think that all of the portraits in this gallery were painted in a three-year period. These are large portraits, full figures, and he is working hard at creating bold, ambitious works. And it's this moment, right, where his career as a portraitist is really taking off. The Bayhorn portraits are quite interesting, of course, because they are members of the same family. The paintings were hanging in the same room, and the portrait of Marie Bayron is painted out of doors. He's trying something very bold here. And it's strange to see this woman wearing such a stylish dress in the garden of her property. There's something slightly awkward, but interesting. I find the high vantage point very compelling, too, by setting her completely against this green backdrop of the grass and the lawn. There is something also very modern about that, right? This kind of perspective that he chooses, and using that green, grassy backdrop. And then her very elaborate dress with the fancy beading, his attention to the lace of her sleeves, the wonderful tulle scarf around her neck. There's such attention to detail. And he's clearly determined to create a flattering portrait, but with these hints of modernity and daily life. And I always admire this sense of anecdotal in it that he adds to, the way she gathers up the hem of her skirt, kind of changes the shape and silhouette of her dress. And then that autumn leaf caught up in the hem of her skirt. He is creating an image that is flattering and that is appealing, but has all of these hallmarks of modernity. These are all really progressive modes of portraiture in the period. And by showing portraits like this at the Salon, he gains recognition. The critics note that his portraits especially have a quality that captures attention and fascinates people. This is the daughters of Edward Darley Boyt. The Boyt family were friends of Sargent's. They were also American expatriates. And Sargent paints their four daughters in their Paris apartment, in a really progressive and modern and compelling composition. And it's one of Sargent's greatest portraits. And we wanted to give it some space of its own here to allow viewers to have a moment with it to really absorb its magnificence. I think it's a painting that is endlessly compelling and there's such a great point of access to it in each individual figure. It's a work of art in itself. It's so unusual. It's square. The scale of it is really impressive. And he's playing on this with these gigantic vases in the composition, which almost gives a sense that there are some aliases in Wonderland. Some of the critics and caricaturists joked about it being more of a still life and an arrangement of figures and objects in a space. It's obviously an homage to Velázquez, whose art Sargent had studied in Spain and admired very greatly. His portrait of Las Meninas, which Sargent's copy of that painting is also on view in this gallery. And I think we really see how Sargent is absorbing the lessons, but creating his own style and work of art. But the sense of space and how he constructs it and the reflection of light in the mirror over the mantle, the sense that we don't know exactly what's beyond the children. And I think it's also a study of light. And it's interesting that he puts this red screen on the right as well, which catches the eyes and disturbs the composition in a way. It's a very unsettling work in many ways. One of the details that I've become fascinated with is the way that Sargent creates this flash of light on the bottom of their feet, which is just a few brushstrokes, but it solidifies them in space. And you have a whole sense of their weight, their presence in the space. I think the more you look at it, the more details like that you see. In addition to creating these sensational salon pictures, Sargent paints a lot of informal portraits in this period. And we see in this gallery some of his artistic and literary friends, relationships that were so important in his social network, but also in promoting his career in Paris. And then, of course, more commissioned portraits, members of high society that start coming in at this time after his salon successes. He was very comfortable painting in all different styles and more informal works. He was very supported by women as well at this point in his career. And they liked him back because, of course, he made them look so glamorous. Sargent, of course, is looking at other artists. And we have this moment here where we see images of portraits of modern Parisian women by artists that Sargent admired or befriended or competed with to give a perspective of the range of artistic styles that were proliferating in this period. He was certainly looking at these works as he was making images of Parisians himself. Sargent's time in Paris and our exhibition culminate with this work, known today as Madame X. It's an extremely ambitious portrait. Everything he's been studying and looking at and painting in Paris leads up to this moment for him. With each success, I think he feels compelled to up the ante and create something more spectacular. And he seeks out this woman, Virginie Gautreau. She is an American of French descent known for her captivating beauty. Sargent found her strange and exotic and mysterious and a little bit odd and was just so fascinated. He was compelled to paint her, intending to create a masterpiece for the Paris Salon. And there is no commission here. This is a work that he is creating for his own ambition. For me, it's Sargent's masterpiece because he pairs down the portrait to the essentials. The palette is very restricted. Everything is really streamlined. Her profile is very pure. There's something heraldic to the way in which he represents her. And it's the simplicity, the purity of the portrait, which to me makes it really stand out and probably made it stand out at the Salon. I also see that it was a work of such great ambition. I think that he is really looking at everything he's learned. And he is, of course, trying to create a likeness of this amazing person in Paris. But it's more than a portrait as well. In that way, it kind of transcends the individual likeness to become something more symbolic of Paris society. And he's really being thoughtful about looking at the art of the past as well. It's fascinating to me that she's so of her moment, but then also so modern that she continues to just speak to people and is so, so compelling. So there becomes a kind of timelessness to it. I think Sargent was so obsessed with her. And he goes on to make numerous drawings of her, trying to capture every angle of her beauty and figure out how to depict her. And you see him kind of working out ideas about her lines. And that kind of fascination with her and how to record her is really evident in this gallery. It really caused a sensation. It was met with kind of esteem and criticism. An important thing to know about the painting is that Sargent had originally painted the shoulder strap of her dress sliding off of her shoulder. People claim to have been shocked by this. It was a state of undress that elicited criticism of her morals and rumors about her after the salon closes. We know that Sargent repainted the shoulder strap in the upright position almost immediately after. The repainted shoulder strap seems to have been done very quickly with much less detail than the original shoulder strap. I think you have to see it as a kind of acknowledgement, maybe even a nod to the absurdity of the criticism. Both Sargent and Gautreaux were very upset by the response of the public. It is a setback for Sargent, but he does rebound quickly. And in fact, because it wasn't commissioned, he kept this painting until 1916. And he always kept it in his studio nearby. And later in life, when he is selling this portrait to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he says, I suppose it's the best thing I've done. The salon was such an important art event annually in Paris. It was a major way that Sargent gained fame and access to potential clients and critical reviews. And thousands of paintings were shown there every spring. And so we wanted to give an idea of other works that were shown that year in comparison to to give an impression of how she stood out and how bold she was in the time. Sargent actually did not leave for London from one day to the next after the Madame X scandal. Sargent continued to have links with French painters. And so we really want to show in this gallery that there is not a complete rupture. He did not leave Paris after 1884. And he very much continued to look at the Impressionists, especially with Monet. And Sargent found his own Impressionistic brushwork, as you can see in this little painting from when Sargent visited Monet in Giverny in 1885. This is Carmencita. This is the portrait of a Spanish dancer who was all the craze in Europe, but especially in the US. And Sargent saw her dance at the Exposition Universelle in 1889 and was so struck by her performance that he decided he had to paint her. So again, this is another portrait that was not commissioned, like Madame X. And we wanted to finish on this painting because this is a portrait that was bought by the French state in 1892, so not that long after the scandal of Madame X. And it shows, in a way, Sargent's redemption through the eyes of the Paris establishment. It means that he enters the national collection and that ultimately his painting is going to be at the Louvre, which for an artist is a major thing. There's something very interesting, and I think also modern, to create such a massive, large-scale portrait of a performer. This is a scale that's usually reserved for aristocracy or royalty, but she appears very much in charge in a very fierce pose and confident. And of course, Sargent is also really beautifully painting her costume, her dress, and all of these details that were part of it. This painting is such a landmark in Sargent's career, and even though this is where the exhibition ends, he still has many, many productive and successful decades ahead of him. But this moment in Paris is really the foundation of it all. It makes his future success possible. What I find thrilling about Sargent's work is the novelty of what he's doing in Paris, his content experimentation with compositions, but mostly his paint, the sensuality of his paint. This is why it's so important to go to the exhibition and not just look at reproductions. There's something immediately seductive about Sargent's painting at that time of his career. The surfaces and the textures and the visible brushwork and this kind of expressive quality of these works of art, they can't be duplicated. And to see them in person gathered together, I think will really impress people. These works of art tell us about Sargent's life, about the development of his career, about Paris society in the 1870s and the 1880s, but they are also just stunning paintings that can be appreciated on all these different levels.