EILEEN ADLER

Suzanne Valadon was an artist, mistress, model, and muse of Montmartre but through it all, she trusted herself, overcoming many of life’s challenges, and it wasn’t long before her artwork stood alongside famous artists. Listed in the catalogue was her name, “Valadon, S.” written to camouflage her gender. She was born in 1865.

Becoming a single mother at eighteen years of age, never revealing the baby’s father, she wrote “father unknown” on his birth certificate. Her son, Maurice Utrillo, developed his skills as an artist, but alcohol dogged him, becoming his constant companion, staggering together for the rest of his life; he never achieved sobriety. Sustaining Suzanne was her role as his care giver for when he often faltered, she came to his rescue.

Close to seventy, time and stress took their toll. Suzanne was diabetic and was suffering from uremia, a disease leading to kidney failure. Nearing the end of her life, her biggest worry was that of her son’s welfare. Who would care for him? Ironically, losing her identity as a caregiver was heart-wrenching; no longer could she be the first one called when Maurice stumbled. Her work, she explained, was finished. But she was wrong.

Suzanne Valadon was one of the world’s most famous painters. She was doubly honored for her own portfolio of work and for bringing to the world the work of her successful and famous son, Maurice Utrillo.  Suzanne Valadon passed away on April 9, 1938, at the age of seventy-three.

An exhibition of Susanne Valadon’s work was presented at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, September 2021 through January 2022 titled “Model, Painter, Rebel.” At the retrospective, a quote on the wall explained her life view:

Her words to live by:
give, love, paint,
trusting herself through her journey.
Caregivers, take note, this is sage advice.
 

Life Lesson: Life is nothing without love and care for YOUSELF.  At the retrospective, a quote on the wall explained her life view:

“I found myself, I made myself, I said what I had to say.”

The Blue Room (La chambre bleue) painted in 1923 may be one of her most recognizable works. It depicts a modern 20th-century woman, clothed and smoking a cigarette, in a pose traditional to female nudes, particularly prostitutes. Given the bias of western culture, it epitomized and objectified female sexuality.

Suzanne Valadon and her son Maurice Utrillo, c. 1884

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.