Madame X (Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau)
John Singer Sargent · 1884
The story
Madame X or Portrait of Madame X is an 1884 portrait painting by John Singer Sargent of a young socialite, Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, wife of the French banker Pierre Gautreau. Madame X was painted not as a commission, but at the request of Sargent. It is a study in opposition. Sargent shows a woman posing in a black satin dress with jeweled straps, a dress that reveals and hides at the same time. The portrait is characterized by the pale flesh tone of the subject contrasted against a dark-colored dress and background. The dress was originally painted with one of the straps hanging off her shoulder, but after a negative response from viewers he repainted it to secure it over her shoulder.
- Artist
- John Singer Sargent
- Date
- 1884
- Collection
- The Met, New York, United States
- Movement
- academic art
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Size
- 243.2 × 143.8 cm
Story adapted from the Wikipedia article and its contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
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