Adam and Eve

In 1909 Suzanne Valadon, who had begun as an artists' model and taught herself to paint by watching, fell for André Utter, a painter 24 years younger. She put them both into the Garden of Eden, herself as Eve reaching for the fruit, Utter as Adam, his hand on her wrist. Painting a male nude was not something a woman in France was expected to do, and this is thought to be the first nude couple by a woman shown in public. When it finally reached the Salon in 1920, a belt of leaves had been added over Utter's body to make it fit for the walls. She painted herself younger than her years, at the start of a life she said Utter had renewed.