painting_alignment width_imperial city url title image_size height_metric height_imperial year image_file artist museum article_title type width_metric
right 43.25 manhattan 2 = madame x -lrb- madame pierre gautreau -rrb- portrait of madame x 250px 234.95 92.5 1884 madame singer sargent , 1884 -lrb- unfree frame crop -rrb- . x jpg -lrb- madame pierre gautreau -rrb- , john john singer sargent metropolitan museum of art portrait of madame x
 oil on canvas 109.86
portrait of madame x

madame x or portrait of madame x is the informal title of a portrait painting by john singer sargent of a young socialite named virginie amélie avegno gautreau , wife of pierre gautreau .
the model was an american expatriate who married a french banker , and became notorious in parisian high society for her beauty and rumored infidelities .
she wore lavender powder and prided herself on her appearance .
`` madame x '' was painted not as a commission , but at the request of sargent .
it is a study in opposition .
sargent shows a woman posing in a black satin dress with jeweled straps , a dress that reveals and hides at the same time .
the portrait is characterized by the pale flesh tone of the subject contrasted against a dark colored dress and background .
for sargent , the scandal resulting from the painting 's controversial reception at the paris salon of 1884 amounted to the failure of a strategy to build a long-term career as a portrait painter in france , though it may have helped him establish a successful career in britain and america .
