World Paintings

Suzanne Valadon. Artist, Muse and Mother.

Suzanne Valadon (1865 – 1938) was a French painter. She became the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. She is also the mother of painter Maurice Valadon Utrillo.

The daughter of an unmarried laundress, she was a poor, uneducated child of the streets of Paris. From the age of 9 Suzanne supported herself by doing odd jobs, and being an extremely beautiful girl she found much work as a model before becoming a noted painter herself. The main reason for modelling was the desire to observe and learn the artists’ techniques. She modelled for Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes, Amedeo Modigliani and others. In the early 1890s she befriended Edgar Degas who, purchased some of her works and encouraged her efforts.
She was said to have had affairs with many artists she posed for and worked with. They all admired her personality and free spirit, and were happy to be her friends and teachers. 
At the age of 18 she became the mother of painter Maurice Valadon Utrillo, who became one of Montmartre’s best-known street scene artists. The father of Maurice remains unknown.