Solo show
Suzanne Valadon
15 Jan 2025 — 26 May 2025 at Musée National d'Art Moderne
· Paris
This temporary exhibition at the Centre Pompidou presents a comprehensive retrospective of Suzanne Valadon (1865–1938), one of the most significant and independent artists of the early modern period. Valadon's career was remarkable for its defiance of convention: she was the first woman admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and she worked across painting, sculpture, and printmaking with a distinctive visual language marked by strong contours, vivid colour, and psychological intensity.
The exhibition traces her evolution from her early years as an artist's model in Montmartre through her emergence as a painter in her own right. Her work encompasses intimate domestic scenes, bold still lifes, and penetrating self-portraits that reveal her unflinching gaze and technical mastery. Valadon's subjects—often drawn from her immediate circle and her own life—are rendered with an honesty and formal sophistication that challenged the conventions of her time.
This show celebrates her lasting influence on modern art and her role as a pioneering figure who paved the way for generations of women artists.
The exhibition traces her evolution from her early years as an artist's model in Montmartre through her emergence as a painter in her own right. Her work encompasses intimate domestic scenes, bold still lifes, and penetrating self-portraits that reveal her unflinching gaze and technical mastery. Valadon's subjects—often drawn from her immediate circle and her own life—are rendered with an honesty and formal sophistication that challenged the conventions of her time.
This show celebrates her lasting influence on modern art and her role as a pioneering figure who paved the way for generations of women artists.
About the artist
Suzanne Valadon
1865–1938 · Post-impressionism
Marie-Clémentine "Suzanne" Valadon was a French painter who was born at Bessines-sur-Gartempe, Haute-Vienne, France. In 1894, Valadon became the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. She was also the mother of painter Maurice Utrillo.
About the artist →About the venue
Musée National d'Art Moderne
· Paris
The Musée National d'Art Moderne is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou. In 2021 it ranked 10th in the list of most visited art museums in the world, with 1,501,040 visitors. It is one of the largest…
