This Iconic Painting Destroyed Her Life. Here's Why.

"The pose of the figure is absurd." Literally a woman standing.

Imagine getting this mad about a painting of a woman, to the point that you say she's ingesting arsenic to change her skin colour. It's a painting, he could literally paint her skin blue, doesn't mean she choked herself to pose for it.

You called her dress satin, but what has always struck me about this painting is how you can immediately tell that her bodice is velvet contrasting with the satin of the skirt. Sargent was a master of light

"the pose is too absurd" "It's scandalous" "Too sexual" "Too hot" the painting: A woman with clothes standing with a table

note to anyone of talent: if you have a piece of art that is HATED by Parisian society (be it this piece, Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring", or Wagner's "Tannhauser"), you have created a masterpiece that will outlive any bourgeois.

I like the version with the strap off the shoulder better. She looks tired to me, and the loose strap underlines it even more, in my eyes. The painting looks like a moment of quiet and aloneness during a social event (even if fun, very exhausting), a moment where, for the briefest of times, you forget that people are always looking at you, observing you, criticizing you maybe. A moment where you forget to be presentable and perfect and just let the strap stay loose for a while, before you pull it back on your shoulder, straighten your back and join the others again with a smile.

The strap slipping at the shoulder was magnificent. The VERY essence of a portrait is to have some kind of movement or kinetic energy. And the strap gave that energy and flow which the society then was too foolish to acknowledge.

This dropped strap is EVERYTHING. It brings a sense of drama, a carefree sexuality, a sense of dangerous-to-know, a voyeuristic element. It’s also a stroke of genius because it adds an element of off-centre interest which draws the eye up and around the whole image. Masterful. It’s a shame it ruined her, even in free-thinking Paris. I want that dress.

It's always painful to be born before the world is quite ready for the talents/vision you have to offer. This was one of the paintings we studied in Fine Arts and I've always thought it was magnificent.

I like the original fallen strap version better. I think Sargent was a great painter. I remember as a kid one rainy, lazy summer afternoon, paging through some glossy big coffee table art books in my grandparent's house, and turning the page to this. "What!" It awakened in me a love of women that continues to this day.

It's really sad that such a beautiful painting of her destroyed her entire life

I adore this painting! It’s not hard to see why she would have been considered a beauty. Her neck alone is remarkable. There are different standards of beauty in every age, but somethings are ageless. Grace is one. And Sargent certainly evoked that in this painting.

As a graphic designer, I feel the original strap off the shoulder was a beneficial component to the composition; everything flowed to the left, while her head pointed opposite. Adjusting the strap upright broke that flow, looks unnatural, and ruined the piece.

I find it fascinating that the top of the dress and the pose are so modern that to this day stars and starlets are using it to dazzle on the red carpet. The artist and the model created something really timeless here.

Everytime I watch these videos it just solidifies the belief that you should make art even if it makes people mad.

I must say that she's very ahead of time, making her so timeless and elegant. I think to be truly remarkable is being different and being proud of it!

It’s amazing how classy a woman dressed like this would be considered today. Reminds me of Marilyn Monroe with how scandalously dressed she was considered in her day and age but it would look refined and classy today.

It did not destroyed her life. She retreated from society for a while but made a comeback and carried on as before. He was more impacted. He moved to London and have to found new patrons there. But it worked out for him as well, in the end.

By the way, her ear being pink is not necessarily because she applied powder everywhere else. When you're pale (like me), sometimes your ears turn pink, usually because you're a little bit embarrassed or self conscious (say because someone is looking at you intently in order to paint you, especially if they're simultaneously judging you for not being a patient and idle enough model), but also in response to other emotions, annoyance, upset, etc, and sometimes for no reason that is apparent to me, though my mom who works with special needs children says that she's learned from her training that it can be a sign of sensory overload.

Scandalous in it’s time, the piece is one of the most breathtaking works I’ve seen with my own eyes.