Born in Paris in the Montmartre district of an unknown father, Maurice Utrillo (1883-1955) is the son of Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938), model and painter. He lives with his mother and grandmother in Montmartre or in the north of Paris. Encouraged to paint to find a way out of precocious alcoholism, he continued for pleasure and shared his mother's studio at 12, rue Cortot in Montmartre. He sold his first work in 1905 and exhibited at the prestigious Salon d'Automne in 1909. His art helped him overcome a painful daily life, punctuated by internments and detoxification cures. The Montmartre district provides Utrillo with the subject of hundreds of paintings. He painted several times a street or a monument which inspired him, such as the Church of Clignancourt. Austere architectures alternate with small animated silhouettes. The peak of his career from 1912 to 1914, his famous "white period", is characterized by white impasto, crushed with a knife, in which is sometimes mixed the plaster which was then made on the Montmartre hill. The merchant Paul Guillaume (1891-1934) discovered Utrillo's painting in the 1910s thanks to the poet Max Jacob (1876-1944) who also lived in Montmartre. Paul Guillaume finally organized in 1922 an exhibition of thirty-five of his works which brought success to Utrillo. The painter is launched and his works sell for much more. This is the so-called "colored" period of the painter's work.