Suzanne Valadon: Model Between Renoir and Lautrec

Paris, the 1880s. A girl of about fifteen, Suzanne Valadon, has just arrived. Since childhood she had done every job going: circus acrobat, factory hand, laundress. The painter Chavannes noticed her and she started modeling. Longing for "a bigger world," she came to Paris and began modeling in Montmartre as well. Before long, with her beauty and her faintly sad eyes, she was in demand by many painters. One ardent fan was Renoir, who painted her many times.

The best-known example is Dance in the City. The man is Renoir's friend Paul Lhote, and the woman gently clasping his hand is Suzanne Valadon. Renoir's lover, Aline Charigot, saw it and asked to be painted just as beautifully, so she became the model for the companion piece, Dance in the Country. But next to the city painting, her accessories looked dowdy and the setting rustic, and she didn't like it. The story goes that Charigot got angry and grew jealous of Suzanne.

Now a famous Montmartre model, Suzanne received endless offers from artists, even marriage proposals, and turned them all down, carrying on with her various jobs. One day, while working at the Moulin Rouge cabaret, she met the painter Toulouse-Lautrec. He, too, approached her, saying he wanted to capture her true self in his painting. Having modeled for so many painters, she agreed without expecting much, but the painting astonished her: tousled hair, rough skin, a tired, frowning face. Other painters had shown her only as lively and beautiful, but Lautrec painted the real Suzanne Valadon, fighting poverty day after day.

Having rejected countless suitors, Suzanne opened her heart to Lautrec, who understood her inner self. As they grew closer, she proposed first. Lautrec, raised in a noble family with every comfort, had one worry. A condition that stunted his bone growth since childhood had left him very short, and he often avoided people and hid because of how he looked. Though he loved Suzanne deeply, he ended up turning down her proposal. Heartbroken, Suzanne was left to wonder what life lay ahead. Press play on the next audio as you walk to the Musée de Montmartre to find out.