Maurice Utrillo

Born Maurice Valadon on 26 December 1883 in Montmartre, he grew up inside the Paris neighborhood that would become his only real subject. He specialized in cityscapes at a time when the form was unassuming, rendering the quarter's streets and façades with an accuracy that doubled as atmosphere. Part of the School of Paris, he became one of the few painters famous for Montmartre who could claim it as birthplace rather than destination. He worked there, returned there, painted it until he died on 5 November 1955 — Montmartre's most faithful documenter, whether he meant to be or not.