The muse of Montmartre, mother of the painter Maurice Utrillo, was above all a talented artist! And modern, like the model she represents in a painting from 1923.
Marie-Clementine Valadon becomes “Suzanne”, in the 1880s, starting to pose for Toulouse-Lautrec and the artists of Montmartre. Immersed in the bubbling of this bohemian environment, she began to paint while observing others. The autodidact catches the eye of Edgar Degas, who encourages him. This end of the 19th century saw the situation of women artists evolve: in 1897, they finally had the right to enter the Beaux-Arts. On the Butte, rue Cortot, Suzanne Valadon works tirelessly between two slamming doors. She forms in the eyes of the outside world an “infernal trio” with her husband André Utter and her son Maurice Utrillo, born when she was 18. In 1923, she painted The Blue Room, making the color burst in shades. And there is no question for the artist of idealizing his model: free, smoker, the woman does not concern us. She is self-sufficient.
Portrait of Suzanne Valadon. Alamy Stock Photo
The Blue Room, a remarkable canvas
This painting is part of a tradition that goes back to the Renaissancefollowing on from a famous painting, the Venus of Urbino of the Venetian master Titian. The composition – a naked woman lying under a curtain – will be taken up by many male artists. She notably inspired Édouard Manet, who caused a scandal in 1865 with his Olympia by replacing Venus… with a prostitute! At Suzanne Valadon, the woman does not offer her body, she does not seek to seduce us. She is, that’s all!
Suzanne Valadon, a source of inspiration for feminists
Because it frees itself from the shackles of classical painting, which confines women to the role of desirable odalisque, this work is feminist before its time. Suzanne Valadon shows what directors like Céline Sciamma call the female gazeas opposed to male gaze, the male gaze. In 1909, the painter was the first to represent the body of a naked man(Summeralso says Adam and Eve). A canvas so important that a contemporary American artist, Betty Tompkins, reinterpreted it in 2018 in the light of our time: the model of Suzanne Valadon has her body covered with excuses invoked in the context of cases of sexual harassment. As for Agnès Thurnauer, another contemporary figure, she reupholsters The Blue Room of words evoking intimacy in his painting Virginia Valadonin 2014.
The style of Suzanne Valadon
This monumental canvas (90 x 116 cm) testifies to the style of Suzanne Valadon, who plays with flat colors and partitions the contours of the bodies with black circles tinted with blue. The artist took care of his “hard and supple” line which fascinated the painter Edgar Degas, a collector of his drawings. From Paul Cézanne to Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, from many influences run through the art of Suzanne Valadon. Here, the vegetal motif invading the space of the canvas and the color echo Henri Matisse, whom the painter, four years her senior, rubbed shoulders with.
The Blue Room, a manifesto of emancipation
Cigarette in the beak, displaying her generous, languid curves… Suzanne Valadon shows us the 1920s modern woman, which flouts convention. By placing two books at the feet of his model, the artist diverts a well-known detail of classical painting. She dares to wink at Titian, master of the Italian Renaissance who, at the end of the bed in his Venus of Urbino (1538) placed a dog, a symbol of fidelity. The artist substitutes bound works for the animal. She favors the knowledgeknowledge, thus signing his painting as a emancipation manifesto !
FOR FURTHER
To have
> Suzanne Valadon. A world of one’s own The Center Pompidou-Metz hosts until September 11, 2023 the first retrospective devoted to the artist for nearly sixty years.
To visit
> The studio-apartment of Suzanne Valadon, at 12, rue Cortot, in Paris, now the Musée de Montmartre.
Bio express by Suzanne Valadon
1865. Birth of Marie-Clémentine Valadon, daughter of Madeleine Valadon and father unknown, in a village in Haute-Vienne.
1883. In Montmartre, she posed for Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec… From her affair with Miquel Utrillo, a Spanish aristocrat, Maurice was born, who would become a painter.
1911. She falls in love with André Utter, a friend of her son. She exhibited several times but her works sold for less than those of her male counterparts.
1938. She dies of a stroke, leaving nearly 500 canvases and 300 drawings. A year earlier, the State had acquired some for the Luxembourg Museum.
You may also be interested in:
⋙ The Lapin agile cabaret in Montmartre: a temple of French song
⋙ What pigments are used in the paint?
⋙ Who was Rosa Bonheur, the woman who painted “like a man”?
2023-08-19 17:00:00
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