Madame X (Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau)

John Singer Sargent 1856–1925

Madame X (Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau) (1884) by John Singer Sargent. Its palette is led by dark amber brown (#503f28, 51%) and soot (#0f1418, 23%). Overall the canvas is dark, muted and warm.

Color reading

Brown and black cover almost all of the canvas. Even its most colorful tone, dark amber brown #503F28, stays close to gray.

Palette

#503f28 MG 168 dark amber brown 51.3% of canvas
#0f1418 MG 223 soot 22.7% of canvas
#20211e MG 222 charcoal 21.2% of canvas
#b5a493 MG 172 oatmeal 2.5% of canvas
#d0bbae MG 171 bone 2.3% of canvas

Color families

Brown 57%, Black 41%, Gray 1%, White 0%, Pink 0%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.32
Contrast: 0.34
Vividness: 0.025
Warmth: +1.00
Complexity: 70 cells
Hue range: 0.06
Focus: 0.03

Composition

50% of the visual weight is in the right half, 54% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.58 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 71% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 14% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: 1884
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 243.2 × 143.8 cm
Genre: portrait
Made in: United States
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

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