The Musée d'Orsay in Paris will present "Sargent: Dazzling Paris (1874-1884)," the first monographic exhibition devoted to American master John Singer Sargent in France, running from September 23, 2025, to January 11, 2026. The groundbreaking exhibition will showcase over 90 works by the renowned artist, including pieces never before displayed in France, highlighting the crucial decade when Sargent developed his distinctive style in the French capital.

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), born in Florence and died in London, stands alongside James McNeill Whistler as the most celebrated American artist of his generation and one of the greatest painters of the 19th and early 20th centuries. While revered in the United States, where his "Portrait of Madame X" is considered the Mona Lisa of American art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and famous in the United Kingdom where he spent most of his career, Sargent's name and work remain largely unknown in France despite his formative years there.

The exhibition, designed in partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, traces Sargent's meteoric rise from his arrival in Paris in 1874 at age 18 to study under Carolus-Duran, through the mid-1880s when he relocated to London following the scandal caused by his portrait of Madame Gautreau at the Salon. During this transformative decade, the young American painter forged both his artistic style and personality in Paris's dynamic art scene, characterized by proliferating exhibitions, the development of naturalism and impressionism, and the city's emergence as the world's art capital.

Sargent found strong support among fellow expatriates and integrated seamlessly into French society, establishing connections with a circle of artists, writers, and enlightened patrons. His numerous portraits of these figures present a fascinating glimpse into a highly cosmopolitan, rapidly changing society where old European aristocracy mingled with the New World's wealthy elite. Rather than focusing on Parisian life, Sargent used the French capital as a base for frequent travels throughout Europe and North Africa, returning with landscapes and genre scenes that combined exoticism, mystery, and sensuality.

In portraiture, Sargent established himself as the most talented artist of his era, surpassing his teachers and equaling the great masters of the past. His extraordinary technical skill, vivacious brushwork, iridescent colors, and provocatively assured compositions both unsettled the public and impressed critics, who viewed him as Velázquez's worthy successor. American writer Henry James, a friend of Sargent, commented in 1883 on one of his most original works, "The Portrait of the Daughters of Edward Darley Boit," noting that the artist "offers the slightly uncanny spectacle of a talent which on the very threshold of its career has nothing more to learn."

The 1884 portrait of Virginie Gautreau, which Sargent later described as "the best thing he had ever done," nonetheless provoked hostile reactions at the Salon, particularly targeting the model's morality and highlighting the social issues surrounding public portraiture in late 19th-century France. A special exhibition section is dedicated to this pivotal episode and features the painting itself, on exceptional loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and displayed in Paris for the first time since 1884.

Based on extensive research, "Sargent: The Paris Years" also examines the lasting connections the artist maintained with his training city even after moving to London. His advocacy for adding Manet's "Olympia" to France's national collections in 1890 demonstrates these enduring ties. France also provided Sargent's first institutional recognition when the State purchased his "Portrait of the Dancer Carmencita" for the Luxembourg Museum in 1892.

The exhibition is curated by Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, Curator of Graphic Arts and Paintings at Musée d'Orsay, and Paul Perrin, Director of Collections and Curation at Musée d'Orsay, in collaboration with Stephanie Herdrich, Alice Pratt Brown Curator of American Paintings and Drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Museum hours vary by day, with the facility closed Mondays and offering extended hours until 9:45 PM on Thursdays. Ticket prices range from 12 to 16 euros depending on time slots and visitor categories, with free admission for visitors under 18 and EU residents under 26.