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Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on April 27, 2025, Sargent and Paris will explore the early career of John Singer Sargent from his arrival in Paris in 1874 as a talented 18-year-old art student through the mid-1880s, when his infamous portrait “Madame X” was a scandalous success at the Paris Salon. Featuring a substantial collection of paintings, watercolors and drawings, the exhibition is the largest international exhibition of Sargent’s work since 1998 and the first ever monographic exhibition of Sargent’s art in France. “This magnificent exhibition will shed new light on a transformative period in the life and career of one of America’s most important painters,” says Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO. “By situating Sargent’s work within the context of the city that formed and inspired him, Sargent and Paris will illuminate this influential artist’s meteoric rise, providing new insights into his unique talent and skill in capturing the vibrant society he inhabited.”
In Paris, Sargent was immersed in a cosmopolitan circle of artists, writers, and patrons, as he navigated a successful path through the French exhibition system, achieving acclaim, recognition and awards. Sargent soon excelled at creating flattering, if provocative, portraits that gratified his patrons and their desire for social status. Sargent and Paris will examine the enduring fascination with society and celebrity that inspired the artist to create the now iconic “Madame X.” The exhibition will look in depth at the portrait, its creation, and the ensuing scandal, and for the first time ever, Sargent and Paris will reunite Madame X with its numerous preparatory drawings and paintings. The exhibition will present a nuanced understanding of the painting at the heart of a scandal that is as infamous now as it was in 1884 along with an appreciation for the originality and brilliance of Sargent’s art, underpinning the more sensational aspects of artistic society in 1880s Paris.
“Sargent’s career was indelibly shaped by the time he spent in Paris. Over the course of one remarkable decade, he created the boldest and most daring paintings of his oeuvre,” says Stephanie L. Herdrich, Alice Pratt Brown Curator of American Painting and Drawings at The Met. “Sargent and Paris will showcase these visually stunning and ambitious works, shedding new light on his distinctive artistic vision. We are thrilled to partner with the Musée d’Orsay to reunite this collection of great works in New York and Paris.”