In this exhibition the Musée d’Arts de Nantes places a new focus on the unconventional career of Suzanne Valadon, from her beginnings as an artist’s model to her heyday as an artist in avant-garde Montmartre.
An exceptional, self-taught artist, Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) left a fascinating, transgressive and uncompromising body of work.
An ardent defender of the need to paint real life, she broke with the traditional idealisation of the human body. She painted intimate scenes of daily life with marked outlines and a boldness of colour that are incredibly modern.
Owner of the masterpiece Les Baigneuses (1923), acquired in 1957 through the Friends of the museum association, the Musée d’Arts de Nantes pays tribute to this self-taught artist, to whom the history of arthas given little attention since her death.
With around 120 paintings and works on paper, the Nantes exhibition above all retraces Suzanne Valadon’s career on the Parisian artistic scene at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, from her years as artist’s model (for Auguste Renoir, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec) to her most radical personal pieces. The freedom with which she approaches the traditional painting genres (nudes, portraits, still lifes and landscapes) underscores the pivotal status of this iconic figure in avant-garde Montmartre.
Curator of the exhibition:
Chiara Parisi, Director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz.
Chief curator of the exhibition in Nantes:
Claire Lebossé, Curator responsible for the modern art collections at the Musée d’Arts de Nantes.
Sophie Lévy, Head Curator at the Musée d’Arts de Nantes.
Salomé Van Eynde, Exhibition Manager at the Musée d’Arts de Nantes.
10 Rue Georges Clemenceau, Nantes
How to get there?
Parking(s) nearby: Parking Château, Parking Cathédrale, Parking Gare Château
Public transport: Trébuchet, Foch-Cathédrale, St-Clément
Self-service bicycles: Foch (n°32), Jardin Des Plantes (n°63), Saint Clément (n°64), Duchesse Anne (n°49), Gare De Nantes Nord (n°60), Verdun (n°48), Strasbourg (n°3), Gare De Nantes Nord 2 (n°62), Lieu Unique (n°61), Cours Sully (n°65)
Closed today.
Open daily, from 11.00 to 19.00, except on Tuesdays.
From 1 July to 31 August, from 10.00 to 19.00, except on Tuesdays.
Late-night opening all year round on Thursdays until 21.00.
Exceptional closures on 1 January, 1 May, 1 November and 25 December.
Exceptional closure at 5pm on 24/12 and 31/12.
Last admission 30 minutes before closing time.
Evacuation of the exhibition rooms 20 minutes before closing time.
Free for PASS Nantes holders
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Avantage pour les porteurs du Pass Nantes : accès gratuit + tarif réduit pour les visites guidées et les visites conférences.
9 € tarif plein
9€ full price
4€ reduced
Reservation recommended
Free admission on the first Sunday of every month, except July and August.
Free during the weekly nocturne, every Thursday from 19.00 to 21.00
Advantage for Pass Nantes holders: free access + reduced rate for guided tours and conference visits.
Free for under 18s, disabled people and their companions, jobseekers and recipients of minimum social benefits, Carte Blanche holders.
Free for anyone with a yearly museum membership and/or Inter-musées pass.
Pass Musées : 15 € (valid one year from date to date in the 5 metropolitan museums)
All spaces are accessible to persons with reduced physical mobility.
Rest zones are available throughout the visit.
Wheelchairs and stick-seats can be borrowed for free upon request to the museum ticket office.
