Career of a female painter: Suzanne Valadon

The Centre Pompidou pays tribute to Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938), an iconic and bold artist, one of the most striking figures of her time. 



Standing apart from the dominant artistic movements of her time, such as Cubism and emerging abstract art, she passionately defended the painting of reality.
Valadon placed the nude, whether female or male, at the heart of her work, representing bodies with authenticity and without voyeurism.


Suzanne Valadon had a significant impact on the representation of the body in art, notably through her approach to the nude, both female and male. She is considered a bold and iconic artist.


Valadon placed the nude at the center of her work, representing bodies without artifice or voyeurism.
She was the first woman to paint a large-format male nude from the front. Her approach to the nude, as well as her work in general, is distinguished by its great freedom. 

She did not adhere to any dominant artistic movement of her time, preferring to paint reality. Her work highlights the resolutely modern nature of her artistic approach.

The current exhibition at the Centre Pompidou highlights her role as a pioneer and underscores her often underestimated contribution to the birth of artistic modernity. The exhibition offers an unprecedented look into her work, revealing her friendly and artistic relationships with the painters of the bohemian scene, as well as her influence on the Parisian art scene.

The exhibition is organized into five thematic sections that allow us to understand the scope, richness, and complexity of her work:

• Learning by observation
• Family portraits
• "I paint people to get to know them"
• "True theory is what nature imposes"
• The nude: a female gaze



And to continue discovering the journey of this unique woman, a beautiful graphic novel by Flore Mongin and Coline Naujalis has just been published.