Dazzling Paris Once Again

By Louise Peloquin

In America, he is considered one of the great painters of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. In France, he had fallen into oblivion. And yet, this artist perfectly seized the Parisian society of his time. His portraits show characters worthy of Proust’s novels. From 1874 to 1884, this virtuoso of the palette succeeded in capturing the intimacy and the secrets of worldly Parisian circles during “La Belle Époque.” (1) 

The Glass of Porto

     At the Musée d’Orsay until January 11th 2026, “Éblouir Paris” or “Dazzling Paris”, gathers more than 90 works from world museums and private collections to retrace John Singer Sargent’s stay in the capital of France. Born in Italy to American parents, Sargent (1856-1925) spent most of his time in London but Paris played a crucial role in his career. This special exhibition was organized in partnership with New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art for the centennial of the artist’s death. It charts Sargent’s rise to fame from 1874 when, at only 18, he began training in Carolus-Duran’s studio, to the 1884 “scandal” of his masterpiece, the portrait of Madame X, presented at the Salon (2) of 1884. Works Sargent produced during this decade are assembled for the first time in this exhibition.

Sargent only produced three self-portraits in his career. Here he is in 1886 at age 30. (3)

Sargent self-portrait

     As a very young man, Sargent’s works already displayed technical mastery as this “Light and Shade” drawing proves. (4)

“Light and shade” – drawing of a young man

     In “Head of a Male Model”, painted in the final months of his training under Carolus-Duran, we see how Sargent followed his teacher’s instructions to load the brush with paint and execute fast, energetic strokes to construct volumes using contrasting tones from dark to light on a dark background. (5)

“Head of a male model”

     In an interview, exhibition commissioner Caroline Corbeau-Parsons presents the artist and his work: (6)

“Sargent worked tirelessly to develop an unequaled technique which allowed him to work very quickly to create dazzling effects and capture the psychology of his models. With a single gesture, he managed to seize an expression, a thought.”

     Sargent’s portrait of writer, translator and art critic Madame Allouyard-Jouan, for example, prompted author Henry James to comment: “(This face) remains engraved in my mind as a masterful interpretation of the allure that comes with experience.” (7) 

Portrait of Madame Allouard-Jouan

Caroline Corbeau-Parsons speaks about Sargent’s artistic journey:

“Sargent was extremely cultured. He spoke five languages, traveled throughout Europe during his childhood – Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France. The Parisian intellectual community of his time appreciated his conversation and his art and so, very quickly, he found his place in their circles. In fact, he was a a prodigy. His extraordinary talent rapidly opened the doors of the Salon for him in 1878 at the age of 22. But in order to seduce the visitors of Europe’s most prestigious art exhibition, the novice painter knew that he had to produce exceptional work. Every year the public awaited him and praised him, like in 1883 with his astoundingly modern adaptation of ‘Las Meninas’ of Velasquez. Its beauty is mysterious and troubling as if revealing the very soul of his models. And when a work of art aroused commentary, it was good for business.” (8)

The daughters of E. D. Boit

Caroline Corbeau-Parsons continues:

“But how could an artist succeed in captivating the attention of 300 000 visitors among 5000 works of art all piled up one on top of the other? He had to paint what had never been seen before. In 1881, Sargent began a portrait of a new genre, that of Docteur Pozzi. Pozzi was one of the fathers of gynaecology in France, a man who enjoyed an important social status. He was well-known for his charisma, his beauty and his philandering. He was also a very cultured individual who frequented Parisian circles. Sargent’s portrait of Docteur Pozzi was unusual for the era – a man in a red dressing gown in front of a red background. Men were normally represented with virility in their black suits. But the Pozzi portrait presents a more feminine, graceful side. To avoid scandal, Sargent decided not to expose the work in Paris but rather in London. But on the other side of the channel, it did not escape criticism.” (9)

Dr. Pozzi

Caroline Corbeau-Parsons:

“Sargent nevertheless sought to make a sensation to seduce Paris. He undertook a second portrait which was even more ambitious and quite linked to Docteur Pozzi’s – that of Madame X. Behind this enigmatic title hides Virginie Gautreau, an American expatriate married to a wealthy banker. She was known for her strange beauty and made the headlines of gossip gazettes for her extravagant extra-marital adventures. Among her lovers was, wouldn’t you know it, Docteur Pozzi. All of the ingredients came together to create another scandal to the delight of Parisian society. And that is exactly what happened in 1884. It is already very rare to paint the portrait of a woman in profile. You see that the lines of this portrait are very marked. The painting is almost entirely black and white. Madame X’s skin is very white in contrast with the black gown. She holds the crinoline behind her in such a way as to make the gown appear as a sheath dress. The scandal also arises from Madame X’s lowered strap which suggested that the dress could slip off to bare her bosom. The painting is extremely modern. From the very opening of the Salon, protests arose against Sargent’s painting because it was a mirror of Parisian aristocracy and the reflection of the decadence that it preferred not to see. Sargent was an American painter, a stranger. Displaying the immorality of a foreign woman in the sacred ‘Salon’ was shocking and improper. When Sargent’s commissions declined, he decided to leave Paris to settle in London. As for Madame X, she was eventually also banished from Parisian high society.”

    The “Dazzling Paris” exhibition presents various “views” of “Madame X”, for example:

• a photographic reproduction of the portrait as Sargent originally exposed it at the 1884 Salon and later modified. (10) 
• An unfinished copy. (11) 
• A detail of the final portrait. (12) 

Print of the original “Madame X” with the fallen dress strap

Unfinished copy of “Madame X”

Detail of the final “Madame X” portrait

Detail of photo of Sargent in his studio

“Madame X” hangs majestically in her own room at the Musée d’Orsay where curious visitors swarm to discover “le scandale.” Some cruelly comment on her distinct profile, comparing it with today’s canons of cookie-cutter beauty. After a few minutes of loitering and listening, I concluded, and happily so, that the sheer elegance of Sargent’s work remains bewitching 141 years later. Its unusual aesthetics places it in a sphere of its own. “Madame X” towers over the run of the mill.

I went to the exhibition at the opening time slot and so was able to contemplate Sargent’s spectacular works at relative leisure. But as the minutes passed, the crowd thickened, causing unpleasant jostling. Even so, I lingered, meandering in rooms just visited, taking in the sheer beauty of Sargent’s “tableaux”, remembering  Henry James’s assessment of his friend whose work “offers the slightly ‘uncanny’ spectacle of a talent which on the very threshold of its career has nothing more to learn.” Were JSS still among us, he would have been thrilled at the commotion around his creations.

To close this piece, here is my sampling of “Dazzling Paris”, an exhibition whose beauty elevated me to a state of beatitude.

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British author Violet Paget (1856-1935), AKA Vernon Lee, was Sargent’s childhood friend. In his frequent letters to his fellow expatriate, the artist recounts the ups and downs of his life in Paris. Violet agrees to sit for him during one of his stays in London. In only three hours, he captured the glow of her intelligence. One almost expects her to come out with a witty quip. (13) 

“Vernon Lee”

This portrait of Amalia Subercaseaux, wife of the Chilean consul in Paris, earned Sargent a medal at the Salon of 1881. She was praised as the archetype of the Parisienne of the time, despite the fact that she was from Chile. (14)

Portrait of Madame Ramon Subercaseaux      

     Although sculptor August Rodin was 16 years older than Sargent, the two became friends and even exhibited together in 1884 in Brussels. Sargent participated in promoting Rodin’s work in England and later gave him this portrait which, much like Vernon Lee’s, perfectly captured the sculptor’s gaze. (15)

Auguste Rodin

After meeting Gabriel Fauré in 1886, Sargent became passionately enthusiastic for the musician’s compositions and performances. Fauré, head high but not arrogant, appears to contemplate a new horizon where music breaks free from the standards of the past. (16)

Gabriel Faure

     Admired by artists of his time, fencing master and historian Arsène Vigeant sat for many portraits. In this one, Sargent, once again, gives life to his model. He depicts a piercing, determined look, as if Vigeant were about rise from his armchair and grab the gleaming foil behind him. (17)

Arsene Vigeant

     In this portrait, Spanish dancer Carmen Dauset Moreno, whom Sargent met at the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, seems to be stepping onto the stage in her glittering yellow costume. Art critic Claude Bienne commented: “Monsieur Sargent excels at capturing something both attractive and disquieting in his subjects, and it is because of this that his art becomes superior.” Indeed, as in all of the previous portraits presented above, the model’s expression and attitude are boldly expressed, bringing her to life. (18) 

Carmen Dauset Moreno

     Sargent not only excelled in portrait painting but also in plein air scenes. As a child, he had enjoyed the many holidays in Britanny with his parents and returned there in 1877. Numerous studies of authentic scenes inspired him to compose this large-scale painting presented at the 1878 Salon. “Setting out to fish” earned him his first critical success. He audaciously used light and color to depict women and children en route to gather shellfish. (19) 

“Setting out to fish”

     “Wineglasses” demonstrates how Sargent mastered effects of light early on in his career. This is probably an arbor at the Hôtel Chevillon on the outskirts of the Forest of Fontainebleau where artists liked to meet. (20)

“Wineglasses”

     A trip to Naples and Capri in the summer of 1878 inspired Sargent to create this painting, showed at the Salon of 1879. The model, Rosina Ferrara, who sat for many artists, is languorously leaning against an olive tree. (21)

“Among the olive trees”

     Sargent’s nomadic life fed his inspiration to create unique compositions. He traveled extensively around France, Italy, Spain and Morocco and was filled with their colors, textures and atmosphere. Not until 1878, at the age of 20, did he visit the United States and, although he regularly returned there for commissions of his work, America never became his permanent home.

“Atlantic Sunset” invites you to discover John Singer Sargent wherever your own personal journey takes you. (22) 

“Atlantic sunset”

(Photos taken by Louise Peloquin on November 26, 2025 at the Musée d’Orsay “Dazzling Paris” exhibition.)

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1. “The Glass of Porto” – 1884, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.

2) The Salon was an art fair that attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors every year to Paris. In Sargent’s time, it was the largest exhibition of contemporary art in Europe with hundreds of artists and several thousand artworks gathered under one roof. For young artists like Sargent, it was the place to be noticed by the Academy of Fine Arts, critics and art lovers. Between 1877 and 1885 Sargent presented one or more paintings at the Salon every year.

3) “Self-portrait” – 1886, Aberdeen City Council Archives, Gallery and Museum.

4) “Light and Shade” – circa 1874-1877, the Õmer Koç Collection.

5) “Head of a Male Model” – circa 1878, private collection.

6) Caroline Corbeau-Parsons’s interview translated by Louise Peloquin.

7) “Portrait of Madame Allouard-Jouan” – 1882, Paris Petit Palais.

8) “The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit” – 1882, MFA Boston.

9) “Dr. Pozzi at Home” – 1881, Los Angeles Hammer Museum

10) Album of photographic reproductions of painting by Sargent at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

11) Unfinished copy of  “Madame X” – Tate, London.

12) “Portrait of Madame X” close-up — 1883- 1884, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

13) “Vernon Lee” – 1881, Tate, London.

14) “Portrait of Madame Ramòn Subercaseaux” – Circa 1880-1881, Faye S. Sarofim Foundation.

15) “Auguste Rodin” – Circa 1884, Paris Musée Rodin.

16) “Gabriel Fauré” – Circa 1889, Paris Musée de la Musique, Philharmonie de Paris.

17) “Portrait of fencing master Arsène Vigeant” – 1885, Musée de la Cour d’Or, Metz France.

18) “La Carmencita” – Circa 1890, Paris Musée d’Orsay.

19) “Setting Out to Fish” – 1878, Washington, National Gallery of Art.

20) “Wineglasses” – Circa 1875, The National Gallery, London.

21) “Among the Olive Trees, Capri” – 1878, private collection.

22) “Atlantic Sunset” – Circa 1876 – 1878, private collection.