| | John Sargent's Madame X |
 | | When Madame X was shown at the Salon of 1884 it became instantly a salacious painting and a scandal in French society as a result of its sexual suggestiveness of her pose and the pail pasty color of her skin. |
 | | The size of the painting is enormous, measuring 82 inches by 43 inches or nearly seven feet tall (2 meters) -- and with the underlying sensuality of the painting, in the time that it was done (if it isn't still to some degree today), almost threatening to the viewer. |
 | | When I first read about this painting, I was struck by the notion that if the painting was so damning to her reputation, why hadn't Madame Gautreau nor her husband ever destroyed it; which seemed to tell me that she must have secretly loved it; but this was not the case. |
| www.jssgallery.org /Paintings/Madame_X.htm (2865 words) |