Episode 64: Suzanne Valadon and the Reclining Nude

Suzanne Valadon, an early modernist painter, reflects her experience as a sitter for artists like the Impressionist Renoir, turning the convention of the ideal female form on its head. She presents us with a “modern” woman who has little care for the standards of beauty.

Suzanne Valadon, “The Blue Room,” 1923
Image Credit: Musée National d’Art Moderne
Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538
Image Credit Uffizi Gallery, Florence
https://www.uffizi.it/en/the-uffizi