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A painting a day · No. 28 of 38

Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau)

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925)

1883–1884 · Oil on canvas · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau), John Singer Sargent, 1883–1884
Public domain · image from Wikimedia Commons (full size there)

The story

Virginie Gautreau was a famous beauty in Paris. When the portrait was shown at the Salon of 1884, one strap of her dress had slipped off her shoulder. It was a scandal, and Sargent soon moved to London.

Look closer

  1. Look at the right shoulder strap. Sargent repainted it back in place after the Salon.
  2. Her skin is pale, almost lavender — she powdered it.
  3. Her head is turned in sharp profile, like a face on a coin.

Did you know

Sargent sold it to the Met in 1916, calling it 'the best thing I have done'. He asked that her name not be used: hence 'Madame X'.

Why we can show it

John Singer Sargent died in 1925. UK copyright lasts for the artist’s life plus 70 years, so even under today’s rules this painting would have been free for anyone to show since 1996. The photograph is a faithful copy of a flat work, which creates no new copyright. We do not store the picture: it comes from Wikimedia Commons each time it is needed. More on this.