Nowadays, it is difficult to surprise anyone with the eccentric antics of artists. Many ordinary people think that since they are artists, they should behave this way to draw attention to themselves, and in general they are people who are somewhat out of this world, with oddities. But one of the first ladies who became famous not so much for her paintings, which critics and art historians consider to be very decent, but for her peculiar behavior, which was very far from the prevailing ideas of decency at the time, was Suzanne Valadon.
Germaine Utter at the window
She repeatedly participated in various outrageous events, prototypes of modern performances, explaining herself and drawing attention to her work, and everyone in Montmartre gossiped about her private life, although the public there was already used to everything.
Self-portrait, 1883
Suzanne Valadon (23 September 1865 – 7 April 1938) nee Marie-Clémentine Valadon) was born in a provincial town in France. Her mother worked as a laundress, and all Marie knew about her father was that he had dated her mother and then left her. Later, she made up other stories: her father was an aristocrat, a banker, or even a famous criminal in his circle. But in a small town, a mother with an illegitimate child was looked upon with suspicion, so she had to move to Paris, where it was very easy to get lost. From childhood, Marie was characterized by a rebellious character: she dropped out of school at the age of 11, then changed jobs several times, never staying anywhere for long. At 15, she became an acrobat in the circus, but soon suffered a serious injury.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec "The Hangover"
However, the beautiful acrobat was noticed by the artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, who offered her the opportunity to model. Valadon agreed, and after several sessions of posing, Toulouse-Lautrec offered to change the plebeian name of Marie to the more intriguing Suzanne, alluding to the very Susanna around whom the elders, the artists of Montmartre, circled, more than once hinting that it would be good if their relationship were not limited to posing.
Peter Paul Rubens. Susanna and the elders
Suzanne was not particularly chaste, and her relationships with many artists were far from platonic. She lived with the same insatiable dwarf Toulouse-Lautrec for two years, realizing that she could squeeze a lot of money out of this aristocrat. Once she even attempted to commit suicide, saying that the artist did not love her at all, and therefore did not want to give her another expensive gift. Henri left home, and when he quietly returned, he overheard an extremely cynical conversation between Suzanne and her mother about the "rich idiot dwarf." From then on, they parted forever.
Auguste Renoir "Girl Braiding Her Hair"
Valadon also dated Renoir, but one day during a rendezvous, his future wife Ani Chaguiro came to see him. Unbeknownst to her, Renoir sent Valadon out the door, which greatly offended the girl.
Not surprisingly, at the age of 18, Suzanne gave birth to her first child - the future famous artist Maurice Utrillo. And who was his father, she herself did not know, at least the boy was adopted by her friend Miquel Utrillo, who said: "I am happy to add my signature to the master's creation".
Suzanne Valadon. Portrait of Maurice Utrillo
And Suzanne earned the reputation of a femme fatale. She began a relationship with the composer Eric Satie, which was so stormy on Satie's part that it resembled a kind of madness. Soon Valadon grew tired of such a frenzied love and she left him. The time came for a marriage of convenience, and here Suzanne did not lose: she married a rich stockbroker, Paul Mousis. They lived together for 13 years, and when Paul died, Valadon, after mourning for some time, began an affair with a young friend of her son, Andre Utter, whom she married. Andre turned out to be a clever businessman who knew how to sell the paintings of Suzanne and her son Maurice at a profit, so that the couple did not suffer.
Santiago Rusiñol (1891) Suzanne Valadon and Miquel Utrillo in Rusiñol's studio
After 10 years of working as a model, Suzanne decided to paint herself, fortunately she had plenty of opportunities to see how the real masters did it. She made several sketches of her son and her mother and showed them to Degas. The famous misanthrope-pastelist declared that Suzanne was not without talent, bought several of her drawings and taught her the technique of etching.
Nude Catherine lying on a leopard skin
Suzanne painted a total of about 500 pictures, participated in the Paris Salon on several occasions, and achieved her greatest fame in the later years of her life, during her second marriage. In 1911, she held her own solo exhibition, a serious achievement for a female artist in those years, and then decided to give up painting because: "I didn't want to be like the old senile people who cling to their work to the end.
Joy of life
However, in her opinion, she had already said the main thing in her paintings, and repeating the same thing for the sake of making money did not make sense. And here one can only agree with the words of this extraordinary woman.
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