Suzanne Valadon retrospective at Centre Pompidou features over 200 works

The Centre Pompidou in Paris is hosting a major retrospective of Suzanne Valadon (1865–1938), the self-taught French painter known for her bold nudes. The exhibition, which previously traveled to Centre Pompidou-Metz (2023), Musée des Beaux-arts de Nantes (2024), and Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (2024), has been expanded with new loans and archival materials. It presents over 200 works—mostly paintings and drawings, including many previously unseen—organized into five thematic sections: Learning through Observation, Family Portraits, “I Paint People to Know Them,” “True Theory is Imposed by Nature,” and The Nude: A Feminine Vision. Valadon began her career as a model for artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, absorbing their techniques. In 1894 she became the first woman admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. She is believed to be the first female artist to paint a male nude. Works are drawn from French institutions including the Centre Pompidou, Musée d’Orsay, and Musée de l’Orangerie, as well as international museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Hermitage. The show traces her trajectory from Montmartre model to recognized artist, positioning her as a bridge between centuries and a symbol of female emancipation.