The illegitimate daughter of a poor country woman, Suzanne Valadon first earned her living as a circus acrobat. Mingling with Impressionists in the clubs and cabarets of Montmartre, she caused a stir with her provocative stunts. When she was eighteen years old, Valadon gave birth to an illegitimate son, the future artist Maurice Utrillo. Posing regularly for Renoir, she became his lover, as well as the lover of others, including Erik Satie and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.

Eventually Valadon's own art won the admiration and support of Degas, with whom she shared a close friendship. Yet many were disturbed by Valadon's works, especially her candid and earthy nudes which, like her sexual conduct, defied convention. After an attempt at marriage to a respectable businessman, she fell in love with Andre Utter, an artist twenty-one years her junior. At nearly fifty years of age, she wed Utter and returned to a bohemian life.

Suzanne Valadon reproduces the artist's bold paintings and drawings, as well as letters and personal documents from a woman who left behind few written records.