Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 'Misia Sert', 1904

Misia Sert

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Room 43

About the work

Overview

This is a portrait of Misia Sert, née Godebska, who was the darling of the highest artistic circles in France at the turn of the twentieth century. It is hard to overstate quite how glamorous and influential she was: the local newspapers dubbed her the 'Queen of Paris’. A talented pianist, she associated with nearly all the most famous artists, writers and musicians in the city and sat for portraits by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard. Renoir painted her portrait seven or eight times, each of which required three day-long sittings per week for a month. This is one of the best known. It is dated 1904, the year she turned 32 and divorced her first husband. Renoir has captured her shimmering glamour and poise but also perhaps something of her emotional turmoil – she seems to be looking directly at the viewer yet not quite focusing on us.

In-depth

The sitter in this portrait is Misia Sert, née Godebska, who was the darling of the highest artistic circles in France at the turn of the twentieth century. It is hard to overstate quite how glamorous and influential a figure she was. At a time when the city was the art capital of the world, the local newspapers dubbed her the ‘Queen of Paris’.

The granddaughter of a famous Belgian cellist and daughter of a Polish sculptor, Misia (a diminutive of Maria) was an accomplished pianist in her own right and was always surrounded by creative people. The composer and pianist Franz Liszt was a friend of the family and as a teenager she took piano lessons from Gabriel Fauré, also an extremely influential composer. She decided against a professional career, but often played at private soirees, once accompanying Enrico Caruso, the most famous singer of the day.

In 1893, aged 21, Misia married Thadée Natanson, who was from a wealthy banking family and was a director of the influential literary and artistic review, the Revue blanche. The couple moved from Belgium to Paris, where Misia’s charm and beauty intrigued some of the greatest artists, writers and musicians in the city. She sat for Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (who portrayed her playing the piano), Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard as well as Renoir. The novelist Marcel Proust used her as a prototype for two characters in Á la recherche du temps perdu (‘In Search of Lost Time’) and the poet Mallarmé wrote poems in her honour. Maurice Ravel composed at least two pieces for her, including Le Cygne (‘The Swan’), and it was to her that Éric Satie dedicated the piano music for the avant-garde ballet Parade. She was instrumental in persuading Diaghilev, founder of the Ballets Russes, to stage the production, which was written by Jean Cocteau, with Picasso designing the set.

According to Misia’s memoirs, Renoir painted her portrait seven or eight times, each of which required three day-long sittings per week for a month. This is one of the best known. It is dated 1904, when she turned 32 – this was also the year in which she divorced her first husband. She married the wealthy Anglo-French newspaper baron Alfred Edwards the following year.

Renoir has captured the shimmering glamour and poise of Misia as she leans against the bolster of her chaise longue, the society hostess at home and at ease. However, there is a strange tension in her posture. The lower half of her body seems sinuous and relaxed, and she cradles the head of her sleeping dog affectionately against her thigh. But there is also an awkwardness to the pose. It is not clear how her legs are supported – they seem too far forward from the front edge of the chaise longue. The upper half of her body leans slightly stiffly to one side, although she holds her head upright and alert. Her gaze is also hard to interpret – she seems to be looking directly at the viewer yet not quite focusing. Perhaps Renoir had captured something of her emotional uncertainty in the face of her divorce.

Her marriage to Edwards failed and in 1920, after an 11-year affair, she married the Spanish painter José-Maria Sert. Coco Chanel, the fashion designer, was one of her closest friends and joined them on their honeymoon in Venice. When Misia died in 1950, the portrait was still in her possession.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Misia Sert
Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Artist dates: 1841 - 1919
Date made: 1904
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 92.1 × 73 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1960
Inventory number: NG6306
Location: Room 43
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 20th-century Replica Frame

Provenance

Retained by the sitter in her possession for many years. After the Second War in the collection of Walter P. Chrysler. Sold with the Chrysler collection, Sotheby’s, 1 July, 1959 (No. 33). Acquired from a private collector through Arthur Tooth & Son, August, 1960.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, with additions and some revisions by Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, etc.’, London 1970; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2009

Long Loan to Tate (2009 - 2019) (Tate Exchange Loans)

Tate Gallery (London)

25 March 2009 - 24 March 2019
2009

Renoir au XXe Siècle

Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais

21 September 2009 - 4 January 2010

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

14 February 2010 - 9 May 2010

Philadelphia Museum of Art

12 June 2010 - 5 September 2010
2012

Misia, Queen of Paris

Musée d'Orsay

12 June 2012 - 9 September 2012
2016

Normandie Impressionniste 2016

Musée des Beaux-Arts (Rouen)

16 April 2016 - 26 September 2016

Bibliography

1953

M. Sert, Two or Three Muses: The Memoirs of Misia Sert, London 1953
1958

F. Übertragenn and H. Andertann, Misia: Pariser Erinnerungen, Wiesbaden 1958
1962

The National Gallery, The National Gallery: January 1960 - May 1962, London 1962
1970

Davies, Martin, and Cecil Gould, National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists etc., London 1970
1980

A. Gold and R. Fizdale, Misia: The Life of Misia Sert, New York 1980
1981

M. Wagner, 'Review. Misia: The Life of Misia Sert', French Review, LIV/3, 1981, pp. 490-1
1988

B.E. White, Renoir: His Life, Art and Letters, New York 1988
1997

C.B. Bailey, L. Nochlin and A. Distel, Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age (exh. cat. National Gallery of Canada, 27 June - 14 September 1997; Art Institute of Chicago, 17 October 1997 - 4 January 1998; Kimbell Art Museum, 8 February - 26 April 1998), New Haven 1997
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2005

Lemoine and S. Toubianas (eds), Renoir-Renoir (exh. cat. Cinémathèque Française, 26 September 2005 - 9 January 2006), Paris 2005
2006

A.-C. Rzewuski, La double tragédie de Misia Sert, Paris 2006

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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You've viewed 6 of 10 works

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 'Misia Sert', 1904

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Exhibition history

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir