From a childhood marked by poverty to a career as a popular artist’s model, French artist Suzanne Valadon (born Marie-Clémentine Valadon, 1865-1938) defied the odds to become a successful painter.

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She challenged the social norms of her time to assert her independence, becoming the first self-taught woman to exhibit at Salon de la Nationale des Beaux Arts. Valadon defied her background in terms of class, gender and lifestyle, breaking new ground with her uncompromising portraits and nudes.

It is more than a century since Valadon painted her unapologetic portraits of self-assured women with strong, curvaceous bodies. The Glyptotek’s exhibition Suzanne Valadon – model, painter, rebel presents the contribution the artist made to European art at the beginning of the 20th century with a focus on her agency and business acumen. With their dark hallmark contours and bright colours, Valadon’s works demonstrate wit and boldness in grappling with themes and issues that continue to provoke debate today: female desire, the conflicts of marriage and motherhood, and the way women themselves experience their bodies. Valadon is not represented in the Glyptotek’s collection of French art. The collection does, however, include key works by the circle of male artists Valadon posed for (Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec), surrounded herself by and admired (Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin), and whose ranks she later joined as an artist in her own right. The 1885 portrait of Valadon by Toulouse-Lautrec in the museum’s collection testifies to the art network she was part of and came to influence.

The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue.

This exhibition is organized by Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in collaboration with the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia.

This exhibition was originated by the Barnes Foundation. Original support for Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel at the Barnes Foundation was provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia.