STEPHANIE HERDRICH: It’s not just about the time he spends in Paris. It’s really about how Paris forms him.

NARRATOR: Stephanie Herdrich is Alice Pratt Brown Curator of American Painting and Drawing at The Met.

HERDRICH: Many people know Sargent as the great portraitist of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century, and of course he is that, but his work in this period, this formative decade from 1874 to 1884, is remarkably diverse and bold.

NARRATOR: Welcome to Sargent and Paris. In this exhibition, you’ll encounter travel paintings, genre paintings, landscapes, and seascapes—as well as portraits. You’ll see Sargent draw inspiration and confidence from his adopted city. And you’ll hear much more from curator Stephanie Herdrich, along with other art historians and artists—such as costume designer Kasia Walicka Maimone. Sargent was a huge inspiration for her work on the HBO show The Gilded Age.

KASIA WALICKA MAIMONE: For me, the discovery of Sargent was how he managed to combine his incredible knowledge of the classics and traditional painting—and at the same time, gave himself license to acknowledge his eye and his interpretation of the period.

NARRATOR: Throughout his Paris years, Sargent blended academic tradition with modern sensibilities—growing as a painter and image-maker, and culminating in his infamous portrait of Virginie Gautreau, known today as Madame X.

HERDRICH: It’s a remarkable decade, one in which he becomes an artist, builds a career, learns how to make his way in the art world, to build relationships with circles of artists and friends and patrons, and really present a distinct, bold artistic vision to the world.

NARRATOR: Let’s begin.

This audio guide is sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.