Suzanne Valadon, at a very young age, worked as a model for some of the biggest French painters of the 19th C.. Meeting them on the streets of Montmartre, she would sit for Henner, Steinlen, and Toulouse-Lautrec. However, her most famous collaboration may have been with Renoir. In Danse a la Ville and Danse a Bougival, painted in 1883, Renoir used her as his model, depicting very different scenes. Valadon in La Ville is elegant and controlled, but in Bougival, she is distant; her partner looks to be trying to get her attention. Renoir loved working with her, and Toulouse-Lautrec loved working with her.
While she posed, she soaked up the techniques of each of these masters, storing them away in her mind until she picked up her own paintbrush just as she turned 30. Degas came into her life and admired her paintings and her style, encouraging her to continue and buy her paintings to
hang in his home.
Suzanne’s relationships are many and have overshadowed her talent for years. Marriages and a son who never knew who his father was and had a host of his own issues. Suzanne attempted suicide and alienated her biggest supporter, Degas, but still managed to cut out a life for herself.
Today, you can still see Suzanne in Paris hanging on the Orsay and the Pompidou walls. Renoir’s Danse à la Campagne and Danse à la Ville, two of the three series, are in the Orsay. Suzanne modeled all three, but his lover Aline Charigot’s jealousy and scraping at the painting forced Renoir to change the model for la Ville to Charigot.
Suzanne’s paintings and drawings can be found in the Pompidou. However, if you want a personal view of her life, head to the Musée de Montmartre. Her former studio and apartment are part of the museum. Walk into her studio, where her former easels, chairs, and art fills the space with its huge windows.
Her son Maurice Utrillo spent more time as a child with her mother and would become a painter himself. He would create beautiful images when he applied himself between bouts of drinking. Suzanne would lock him into her studio, forcing him to paint. She died on April 7, 1938, and today, his paintings are remembered more than hers, but she should be recognized for all she did, even when battling her many demons.
