Sargent Madame X Tote

$40.00 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Museum tote bags make great gifts for art lovers. Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, perhaps better known today as "Madame X," was admired in Paris for her artful appearance, and John Singer Sargent (American, 1856–1925) hoped to enhance his reputation by painting the stylish socialite's portrait in 1883–84. He emphasized his subject's daring fashion sense by showing the right strap of her gown slipping from her shoulder; however, upon the picture's exhibition at the Salon of 1884, it received more ridicule…