John Singer Sargent · 1884

Portrait of Madame X

Posters from $15.00 CAD · Canvas from $39.00 CAD

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Sargent's scandalous Paris society portrait of Virginie Gautreau — the pale skin, plunging black gown, and a fallen shoulder strap that ended Sargent's Paris career and made him an American legend.

Up to 9 × 16 in · portrait

Size

Larger sizes are unavailable for this painting because the source scan's resolution wouldn't print at gallery quality.

Format & finish

Archival cotton canvas stretched over a wooden frame. Ready to hang as-is. No external frame.

Scale next to a 5'10" person

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Hand-printed in Ottawa

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Materials & quality

›Canvas & inks

Giclée-printed on archival cotton canvas with fade-resistant pigment inks, hand-stretched over wooden bars. Gallery-wrapped — ready to hang with no extra frame needed.

›Floater frame

Hand-finished solid wood floater frame in five finishes. The canvas sits inside with a clean shadow gap — the way galleries hang contemporary canvas.

›Posters

Premium archival paper — 200 gsm soft matte or 230 gsm vibrant glossy. Ships flat or rolled, ready for your own frame.

›Faithful to the source

Printed from the highest-resolution museum and archive scans available. Each painting's maximum size is capped at what its source scan can support at gallery quality.

About this painting

The story of Portrait of Madame X

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.

Adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the artist

John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Belle Époque and Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, Capri, Spain, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida.

All John Singer Sargent prints →

Biography adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Frequently asked

Portrait of Madame X— questions & answers

›Who was Madame X in Sargent's painting?

She was Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, a young Paris socialite and wife of the French banker Pierre Gautreau. Sargent painted her in 1884 not as a commission but at his own request.

›Why was Madame X so scandalous?

Sargent originally painted one jeweled strap of her black satin gown hanging off her shoulder. The negative response at the Paris Salon was so strong that he repainted the strap securely in place — but the scandal effectively ended his Paris career and pushed him to London.

›Where is the Portrait of Madame X now?

The original hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

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