Maurice Utrillo
French Painter of the early 1900’s
Maurice Utrillo
Maurice was born on December 26th, 1883, the son of
Suzanne Valadon.
 His mother was a famous painter and a model for
Renoir, Degas and Toulouse Lautrec.
 Maurice was raised by his grandmother who was
quite strict!
 As a young child his mother taught him to paint.
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Maurice Utrillo
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Maurice liked to model for his mother’s paintings,
because he could spend time with her.
When he was 8 years old, Miguel Utrillo, a Spanish
art critic and a friend of his mothers’ was worried
that he did not have a father and gave him his last
name.
After recognizing Maurice as his son this was the
last time he would see him!
Maurice Utrillo
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Maurice did not do well at
school, he was withdrawn
and shy.
His mother suggested
painting as an outlet for his
unhappiness.
She taught him well, but he
had emotional and physical
problems to overcome.
At 18 he was put in an
Asylum to fight his illness,
he had problems with
Alcoholism and was
institutionalized many times
in life.
Maurice liked the Asylum as
a retreat and took up
painting again as therapy.
Maurice Utrillo
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In the fall and winter of
1903, he created over
150 canvases.
All of his paintings
contained some kind of
architecture, he seldom
painted portraits.
He once said, ‘I believe I
am too shy. I cannot
look people straight in
the eye, so cannot paint
them well. Sometimes I
do paint human figures
but the further in the
background they are,
the better I like them.’
Maurice Utrillo
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One rainy evening in 1905, unable to sell any of his
paintings to a gallery, he walked up to a man in the
street and offered him a painting.
 The stranger happened to be the son of a famous
artist, Pisarro.
 This man recognized the value of the paintings and
by the next day all of Maurice’s paintings had been
sold!
Maurice Utrillo
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Art critics finally began to see Utrillo, an unknown artist,
as an asset to the art world.
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The years 1906 to 1914 were considered to be the era
when Utrillo’s genius blossomed, his paintings during
this time were called the ‘White Period’ because he used
a lot of lead white paint.
By 1920 Maurice Utrillo was famous throughout the
world.
Maurice Utrillo
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He was unfit to serve in the
army during the four years of
World War 1, Utrillo painted
over 1,200 canvases during the
war time.
By 1925 he was quite poorly in
health and he was in and out of
the asylum. He would drink all
day and paint all night.
Maurice was declared
incompetent and all of his
money affairs were turned over
to his mother and step-father.
The 3 of them argued all the
time as they tried to live
together!
Maurice Utrillo
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At the age of 55, Maurice married a family friend, a
painter named Laucie, age 66.
He was very happy to be married and not living with
his mother and stepfather anymore and declared
himself free and stopped drinking!
He was looked after by his wife for the rest of his life.
Maurice died of heart complications in 1955, he was
72 years old.
Maurice Utrillo
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Maurice Utrillo
 ‘Street
in the Suburbs’ 1916, Oil on
Canvas