She Was the Talk of Paris. Now She’s the Scent of the Season

Pura Q&A with The Met Curator Stephanie L. Herdrich

Pura’s newest scent captures the enduring allure of John Singer Sargent’s Madame X portrait from The Met collection. In an exclusive interview, Stephanie L. Herdrich, the Alice Pratt Brown Curator of American Painting and Drawing at The Met, reveals stories of this iconic masterpiece.

Before there were red carpets, paparazzi, or internet-breaking selfies, there was Madame X. Painted in 1884 by American artist John Singer Sargent, the provocative portrait of Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, a Parisian socialite with New Orleans roots, left viewers at the Paris Salon clutching their pearls. And now, as seen in Pura’s latest collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, you can bring this masterpiece home with a limited-edition room scent that captures its elegance, edge, and abiding charm.

“Sargent conceived the portrait as a bold image of a modern, self-styled celebrity, but viewers saw a controversial Parisienne—or worse, an American interloper—who challenged the manners of French society,” says Stephanie L. Herdrich, curator of The Met’s Sargent and Paris exhibition.

With her sultry, hourglass figure wrapped in black and one jeweled strap (originally) slipping from her shoulder, Gautreau’s likeness caused so much controversy that her mother begged Sargent to withdraw the portrait from the prestigious exhibition in Paris known as the Salon. In the end, however, Madame X got the last word. Today, the once-infamous painting stars in The Met’s Sargent and Paris exhibition, on view through August, 3. 

Naturally, Pura couldn’t resist translating the painting’s mystique into an equally magnetic scent. Created in collaboration with perfumer Olivia Jan, this fragrance isn’t just about notes and accords, it’s about attitude. “Crafting the fragrance of Madame X meant distilling the essence of her presence—bold yet restrained, seductive yet untouchable,” says Mara Dumski, Chief Fragrance Experience Officer at Pura.

Far from your average floral, this daring blend features rich woods, elegant leather, subtle smoky undertones, and soft violet (a nod to the finely milled powders favored by women of Madame X’s era). “Each note was chosen to mirror the painting’s contrasts: the deep richness of black silk, the delicate powder of Parisian elegance, and a whisper of something forbidden,” says Dumski. “The result is a scent that lingers like a secret, as timeless and provocative as Sargent’s masterpiece itself.”

Think of it as the olfactory equivalent of walking into a room and turning heads without saying a word. Sophisticated. Intriguing. Even a little dangerous! Thankfully, Pura’s smart home device gives you full control over scent intensity and timing straight from your phone—no mess, no flames, just instant atmosphere. But like that infamous fallen dress strap, once this limited-edition fragrance is gone, it’s gone. So, bring home a bold piece of history guaranteed to get your guests talking.

Shop Pura’s Madame X fragrance and the rest of the Pura x The Met collection now, and keep reading to get the inside scoop from Herdrich on this iconic portrait that continues to inspire more than a century after its debut.

Who was John Singer Sargent?

“Today, John Singer Sargent is best known for his glamorous portraits. Working in the United States and Europe in the late 19th century, the era’s most famous and beautiful people on both sides of the Atlantic posed for him. In fact, he had a much more diverse career—he also painted landscapes, genre scenes, and large-scale murals with historical subjects. He is also known for his dazzling work in watercolor.”

What is something surprising people might not know about Sargent’s life or work?

“He was born in Italy to American parents, and even though he spent most of his life in Europe, he considered himself an American. He had a cultured and peripatetic childhood and was determined to become an artist at a young age. By the time he arrived in Paris at 18 years old to complete his artistic training, he was already quite skillful. He rose quickly in the French capital, becoming known as a talented portraitist. After the mid-1880s, he lived mostly in England but made long trips to the United States. He became one of the most celebrated painters of the Gilded Age. When he died 100 years ago—in 1925—he was praised as his era’s ‘greatest contemporary portrait painter.’”

Who was the real Madame X?

“Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau (1859–1915) was a glamorous figure in Paris in the early 1880s. Born in New Orleans to parents of French descent, she immigrated to Paris as a child and married a French banker in 1879, rising quickly in society. Fascinated by her arresting appearance and intending to create a magnum opus for the Salon, Sargent convinced her to pose for him without a commission. The portrait, shown as Madame ***, was a calculated collaboration between American outsiders who sought recognition in the French capital. Upon completion, Gautreau described it as a ‘masterpiece.’”

Why was this painting considered so controversial when it originally debuted?

“Many critics used Gautreau’s appearance to question her morals: They derided her ‘excessive’ use of cosmetics—a symbol of vanity—and her ‘undress’ (Sargent originally painted her dress strap sliding off her right shoulder). Gautreau’s mother begged the artist to remove the portrait from the Salon, but he defended his work. Despite the uproar, within days Gautreau was seen in Paris wearing a low-cut dress with a sparkling shoulder strap. When he sold the work to The Met in 1916, Sargent wrote that the portrait was ‘the best thing I’ve done,’ and asked that it be titled Madame X.”

The drama! Reality TV has nothing on Madame X. Why is this portrait still such an important work worldwide?

“More than 140 years after Madame X made its debut in Paris, the enigmatic portrait remains compelling. It’s now an icon of The Met collection. People are fascinated by the portrait’s mysterious beauty and boldness, but especially its ‘scandalous’ beginnings. Many see its lasting success as the ultimate triumph for the sitter and the painter.” 

What do you want visitors to take away from the exhibition, Sargent and Paris?

“This exhibition follows Sargent’s meteoric rise in Paris across one remarkable decade, from his arrival in the French capital in 1874, when he was just 18 years old, through the mid-1880s, when his intentionally provocative Madame X became a scandalous success. Sargent’s canvases from these years illuminate his artistic beginnings and offer a keenly observed view of Parisian society and its art world. I hope visitors will gain a new appreciation for the boldness and diversity of his early art. He was precociously talented and worked hard to establish himself in Paris. His portraits are particularly compelling—brilliant likenesses of interesting figures in Paris society. The portraits raise questions about identity, self-fashioning, and presentation that remain relevant today.”

About Stephanie L. Herdrich

Stephanie L. Herdrich, the Alice Pratt Brown Curator of American Painting and Drawing at The Met, is a leading expert on John Singer Sargent and has been with the museum for 21 years. Focused on 19th-century American art, she calls her curatorial role her “dream job,” and as someone who’s spent decades studying Sargent, she’s the perfect source to speak to the complexities, contradictions, and secrets of Madame X.

 *This interview has been condensed and edited.