Pale, luminous skin characterises the Portrait of Madame X. The painting, currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, created by John Singer Sargent during his time in Europe, depicts the Parisienne socialite Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, elegantly dressed in a black off-shoulder gown with jewelled straps. She was married to a French banker, and was constantly in the spotlight of high society, and so at surface level her portrait seems like a logical decision on Sargent’s part. She was beautiful and well known, so easily recognised in fact that despite not being named in the title of the portrait, many viewers guessed that it was her upon seeing it. However, upon further inspection of Gautreau’s situation, Sargent’s painting seems strategic, as does her decision to pose for it. 

Gautreau wasn’t well known for nothing, after all. She was infamous for her multiple affairs, and general lack of conservatism. Sargent had painted one of her known lovers prior to requesting a sitting with her and had depicted him in a similarly intimate way. Yet when the Portrait of Madame X was unveiled at the Paris Salon, it drew an unprecedented level of outrage from the Parisian elites. While Sargent may have considered his painting a celebration of Gautreau’s beauty, the public saw it as a celebration of her infidelity and salaciousness. The criticism was so overwhelming that Sargent went back and repainted one of the straps of her dress, which had originally been hanging off her shoulder. Such was the ire of Paris high society in the face of such a sexually provocative painting. 

Most articles written on it (and there are quite a few if you’re interested) will say that this was disastrous for Gautreau, and that she was disgraced. She very well may have been, as she allegedly beseeched him to remove it from the Salon. Yet, amid cries to have him banned from the art world, Sargent refused to remove the portrait. Now, of course, the Portrait of Madame X is his most celebrated work, and so an easy takeaway from the story is strength in the face of censorship, but I have a theory about Sargent’s decision to paint the controversial social butterfly. 

I think he did it on purpose. He was a newcomer to the European art scene, and his previous attempts to establish himself had failed. Gautreau was a fellow immigrant, an American with French Creole roots, fighting for her place. The pair would have known that presenting her so provocatively would draw some anger. It makes me believe that it was a calculated risk taken between the two in order to solidify each other’s notoriety in the public eye. Some of their contemporaries thought so as well, accusing Sargent of “a wilful exaggeration of every one of his vicious eccentricities, simply for the purpose of being talked about and provoking argument.” 

 If the point was manufacturing a scandal, then Sargent certainly succeeded, although he wouldn’t see the benefits of it in his lifetime.