Suzanne Valadon: 90 Masterpieces

Suzanne Valadon was a French artist, the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and also the mother of painter Maurice Utrillo. She became a circus acrobat at the age of fifteen, but a year later, a fall from a trapeze ended that career. In the Montmartre quarter of Paris, she pursued her interest in art, first working as a model for artists, observing and learning their techniques, before becoming a noted painter herself. She modeled for Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes, and is known to have had affairs with the latter two. In the early 1890s she befriended Edgar Degas who, impressed with her bold line drawings and fine paintings, purchased her work and encouraged her efforts. She remained one of Degas' closest friends until his death. Valadon painted still lifes, portraits, flowers, and landscapes that are noted for their strong composition and vibrant colors.