Portrait of Maurice Utrillo, Her Son

This portrait of painter Maurice Utrillo was done by his mother, the French painter Suzanne Valadon, who was the first woman to be admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Before pursuing her painting career, Valadon worked as a circus acrobat and as a model for well-known artists in Montmartre such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Valadon was known for her free spirit and numerous love affairs, and Utrillo's paternity has been the source of much speculation. Following in his mother's footsteps, Utrillo became an important artist on the Montmartre scene, and is best known for his paintings of Parisian street life.