“John Singer Sargent. Eblouir Paris” explores the early career of American painter John Singer Sargent (1856–1925). Over the course of one extraordinary decade, Sargent achieved recognition by creating boldly ambitious portraits and figure paintings pushing the boundaries of conventionality (to January 11, 2026). Sargent (Florence, 1856 – London, 1925)—along with James McNeill Whistler— was one of the most famous American artists of his generation.
No monographic exhibition has previously been devoted to John Singer Sargent in France. Yet it was in France that the young painter received his training, developing his style and network of artists. It was here that he also enjoyed his first successes and created a number of his masterpieces, including Le Dr Pozzi Chez Lui (1881, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles) and Les Filles d’Edward Darley Boit (1882, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).
The exhibition was designed in partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It brings together over 90 works tracing the meteoric rise of the young artist, who arrived in Paris in 1874, when he was eighteen years old, to study with Carolus-Duran. The exhibition covers his career up to the mid-1880s, when he moved to London after the scandal caused by his portrait of Madame Gautreau (Madame X) at the Salon.
Immersed in a cosmopolitan circle of artists, writers, and patrons, Sargent was able to navigate a successful path through the French exhibition system achieving acclaim and awards. France purchased his “Portrait of the Dancer Carmencita” for the Luxembourg Museum in 1892. Beyond the portrait studio, he traveled in search of inspiration for his art—finding subjects in Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and North Africa.
The exhibition gathers Sargent’s diverse works from this period documenting his path to becoming an artist, which was indelibly shaped by his experiences in the French capital.
“John Singer Sargent. Eblouir Paris,” to January 11, 2026, Musee d’Orsay