Two Women Drying Themselves

early 1890s

Friendship with Edgar Degas

In the early 1890s Valadon befriended Edgar Degas, who found her drawings bold and her paintings fine: he bought her work and encouraged her, and remained one of her closest friends until his death in 1917.

1890s

Degas: her first buyer, collectors and etching

Degas was the first person to buy drawings from her, introduced her to other collectors, including Paul Durand-Ruel and Ambroise Vollard, and taught her the skill of soft-ground etching.

1893

The affair with Erik Satie

In 1893 Valadon had a short-lived affair with the composer Erik Satie: she moved into a room next to his on the Rue Cortot, and Satie, obsessed with her, called her his “Biqui” and wrote impassioned notes admiring her eyes, hands and tiny feet. After six months she left him devastated.

1895

Durand-Ruel shows twelve of her etchings

In 1895 the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel exhibited a group of twelve etchings by Valadon showing women at various stages of their toilettes. Later her work was regularly shown at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris.

1895

Marriage to Paul Mousis

In 1895 she married the well-to-do stockbroker Paul Mousis and lived with him for 13 years in an apartment in Paris and in a house on the outskirts; the following year she became a full-time painter.

1896

A full-time painter from 1896

Valadon began painting full-time: her still lifes, portraits, flowers and landscapes are noted for their strong composition and vibrant colours, but she was best known for her candid female nudes, which, by not idealising the body, upset the social norms of the time.