The Pompidou Centre is currently showing the first Parisian exhibition to be solely dedicated to artist Suzanne Valadon since 1967! With nearly 200 paintings and drawings on offer, you’ll be able to see how the artist forged her own style, which was uncommon at the time, painting scenes of real life and copious nudes.

Suzanne Valadon was a free-spirited artist, ahead of her time, with a very modern style. During the 1920s (and beyond), while cubism and abstract art was all the rage, she preferred to follow her own path, with a style very much her own, rich and complex.

Valadon was one of the rare women to find success in the art world during her lifetime, as the art world was (and still is today) dominated by men, and the exhibition explores her work by dividing it into five themed sections:

— Learning through observation,
— Family portraits,
— I paint people to get to know them,
— The real theory is imposed by nature, and
— Nudes: a feminine regard.

Many of the works on show are taken from the Pompidou Centre’s own collections, as the museum received a large donation of the artist’s work in 1974, but there are also loans from the Musée d’Orsay, the Orangerie, the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Hermitage Fondation in Lausanne.

This is a great opportunity to learn all about the art of a woman who has been unjustly slightly forgotten, and her unusual life: she was the daughter of a washerwoman by an unknown father, mother herself at age 18 and the muse to some of the most famous artists of the era.

Linked with the exhibition :

— a new documentary entitled Suzanne Valadon, peintre sans concession (52′) will be shown on arte.tv in March. Directed by Flore Mongin, it’s based on her graphic novel (co-written with Coline Naujalis) which has just been published.

— The Montmartre Museum is actually in the building where Suzanne Valadon lived and worked from 1911 onwards. Her workshop, living space and son’s bedroom have all been meticulously recreated. Perhaps you should go visit!

— A mini-podcast in nine episodes (in French – around 30 minutes in all) has more information about Valadon and her art…

A catalogue of the exhibition is also available: 280 pages, 240 illustrations, around 42€ here at your local amazon.

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The Suzanne Valadon exhibition is at the Pompidou Centre (here) until 26th May 2025

Open every day except Tuesdays from 11am-9pm (11pm Thursdays). Closed 1st May

Admission: 17€ / 14€ (online sales here)

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