Art historian Page Knox will discuss the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s blockbuster summer exhibition, Sargent and Paris at 7 p.m., Thursday, May 29, at Darien Library.
— an announcement from Darien Library
Knox’s talk explores Sargent’s early years (1874-1884) in Paris, then the center of the art world, where the painter created exquisite paintings from the time of his meteoric rise at the Salon and during his travels to Capri, Spain, and Venice. She will also discuss Sargent’s infamous Madame X.
The Metropolitan’s exhibit is filled with classic Sargent portraits as well as work by colleagues and friends that situate him within the period.
Photo from Darien Library website
Art Historian Paige Knox
About Page Knox
Page Knox is an adjunct professor in the Art History Department of Columbia University, where she received her PhD in 2012. She works contractually in a variety of capacities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art giving public gallery talks and lectures in special exhibitions as well as the permanent collection, teaching classes at the museum, and leading groups for Travel with the Met.
About the Met’s Exhibition
Sargent and Paris explores the early career of American painter John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), from his arrival in Paris in 1874 as a precocious 18-year-old art student through the mid-1880s, when his infamous portrait Madame X was a scandalous success at the Paris Salon.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
John Singer Sargent. Portrait engraving from Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, October 1887.
Over the course of one extraordinary decade, Sargent achieved recognition by creating boldly ambitious portraits and figure paintings that pushed the boundaries of conventionality.
Immersed in a cosmopolitan circle of artists, writers, and patrons, Sargent was able to navigate a successful path through the French exhibition system while achieving acclaim and awards.
Beyond the portrait studio, he traveled in search of inspiration for his art—finding subjects in Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and North Africa.
This exhibition gathers Sargent’s diverse works from this period to illuminate his path to becoming an artist, which was indelibly shaped by his experiences in the French capital. These visually stunning works provide a compelling view of the Paris art world of the late 19th century.
The iconic Madame X, a beloved highlight of The Met collection, is the culmination of Sargent’s early years in Paris. The exhibition will take an in-depth look at this captivating portrait and the numerous preparatory sketches, and it will be displayed alongside select portraits of Parisiennes by Sargent’s contemporaries.
The exhibition is made possible by The Marguerite and Frank A. Cosgrove Jr. Fund, and runs through Aug. 3, 2025.
Image from the Metropolitan Museum website
Madame X by John Singeer Sargent
More About Madame X
From the Metropolitan Museum’s web page about the painting:
Madame Pierre Gautreau (the Louisiana-born Virginie Amélie Avegno; 1859–1915) was known in Paris for her artful appearance. Sargent hoped to enhance his reputation by painting and exhibiting her portrait.
Working without a commission but with his sitter’s complicity, he emphasized her daring personal style, showing the right strap of her gown slipping from her shoulder. At the Salon of 1884, the portrait received more ridicule than praise.
Sargent repainted the shoulder strap and kept the work for over thirty years. When, eventually, he sold it to the Metropolitan, he commented, “I suppose it is the best thing I have done,” but asked that the Museum disguise the sitter’s name.
If You’re Going to the Talk …
Knox’s talk is free (but register here) and starts at 7 p.m., this Thursday, May 29 in the Community Room at Darien Library.