The case
The Musée d’Orsay in Paris is hosting John Singer Sargent. Dazzling Paris, running from 23 September 2025 to 11 January 2026.
Source: Musée d’Orsay, Paris
The commentary
The retrospective includes 100 works: Paintings, sketches, watercolours, drawings, including some that have never been exhibited in France before. Key works on show include Portrait de Mme X (Madame X) (1883 84), Dr Pozzi at Home (1881), The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit (1882) and others. This exhibition is a retrospective that has been long overdue and it’s the first major monographic exhibition of Sargent in France focussing on his formative Paris decade.
John Singer Sargent artwork prices vary significantly, but his significant oil paintings have sold for tens of millions of USD, with the record price being USD 23.5 million for “Group with Parasols (A Siesta)” in 2004. Watercolors and drawings, however, can sell for tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of USD, while smaller works or sketches may be priced from a few thousand USD up to several hundred thousand, depending on the size, subject and condition. According to MutualArt, among 686 auctioned works by Sargent, his paintings have reached prices (on average) of about USD 60,336 in the past 12 months; works on paper average around USD 34,041.
