Madame X

Morning light falls across the floor, and she stands above it in shadow, turned away, perfectly composed. Imagine passing her every day on your way out.

Madame X by John Singer Sargent shows Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, one of the great beauties of Paris society. She stands in black satin, her skin powdered almost to lavender, her face turned in perfect profile. Look closely at the jewelled straps on her shoulders. Both sit in place now. In 1884, one of them did not. Black satin, pearl skin and warm brown shadow: a cool, quiet portrait for a hallway or dressing room.

At the Paris Salon of 1884, Sargent showed her with one strap slipping from her shoulder. The critics mocked, her family was mortified, and Sargent repainted the strap. He left Paris for London soon after. He kept the portrait for more than thirty years and sold it to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1916, calling it the best thing he had done. She was born Virginie Avegno in New Orleans, an American in Paris like Sargent himself, which made her rise in society all the more talked about. It still hangs in New York.

The look

Black satin, pearl white skin and warm brown shadows. Cool, elegant and daring even now. Portrait wall art for a dressing room, a dark academia study or an old money hallway. Printed on a warm off-white border, so her full figure stays whole at every size.

Gifting

A glamorous gift for a birthday, an anniversary or a new home. A portrait that changed a career.

More like this

More John Singer Sargent in our Portrait Paintings collection: The Earl of Dalhousie and Man Wearing Laurels. For another dark beauty, see The Mask by Bruno Croatto.