Frédéric Bazille

 

Frédéric Bazille was born in Montpellier, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, into a wealthy wine merchant Protestant family. Bazille grew up in the Le Domaine de Méric, a wine-producing estate in Castelnau-le-Lez, near Montpellier, owned by his family.^[3] He became interested in painting after seeing some works of Eugène Delacroix. His family agreed to let him study painting, but only if he also studied medicine.^[1]

Bazille began studying medicine in 1859, and moved to Paris in 1862 to continue his studies. There he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley, was drawn to Impressionist painting, and began taking classes in Charles Gleyre's studio. After failing his medical exam in 1864, he began painting full-time. His close friends included Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Édouard Manet. Bazille was generous with his wealth and helped support his less fortunate associates by giving them space in his studio and materials to use.^[1]

Bazille was just twenty-three years old when he painted several of his best-known works, including The Pink Dress (c. 1864, Musée d'Orsay, Paris). This painting combines a portrait-like depiction of Bazille's cousin, Thérèse des Hours, who is seen from behind—and the sunlit landscape at which she gazes.^[4] His best-known painting is Family Reunion, painted 1867–1868 (Musée d'Orsay, Paris).

Frédéric Bazille joined a Zouave regiment in August 1870, a month after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. On November 28 of that year, he was with his unit at the Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande when, his officer having been injured, he took command and led an assault on the German position. He was hit twice in the failed attack and died on the battlefield at the age of twenty-eight. His father travelled to the battlefield a few days later to take his body back for burial at Montpellier in the Protestant cemetery over a week later.^[5][6]

• La robe rose, (1864) – 147 x 110 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
• Studio on Rue Furstenberg, (1865) – 80 x 65 cm, Musée Fabre, Montpellier
• Aigues-Mortes, (1867) – 46 x 55 cm, Musée Fabre, Montpellier
• Self-portrait, (1865) – 109 x72 cm, Art Institute of Chicago
• Family Reunion, (1867) – 152 x 230 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
• Le Pécheur à l'épervier, (1868) – 134 x 83 cm, Fondation Rau pour le tiers-monde, Zürich
• View of the Village, (1868) – 130 x 89 cm, Musée Fabre, Montpellier
• Scène d'été, (1869) – 158 x 158 cm, Cambridge, Harvard University
• La Toilette, (1870) – 132 x 127 cm., Musée Fabre, Montpellier
• L'Atelier de la rue Condamine, (1870) – 98 x 128.5 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
• Paysage au bord du Lez, (1870) – 137.8 x 202.5 cm, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis

 

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  Self Portrait, unknown date
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  Study of Trees, 1863
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  Reclining Nude, 1864
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  The Pink Dress (View of Castelnau-le-Lez, Hérault), 1864, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay
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  Chailly, 1865, Musée Fabre, Montpellier
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  Studio on Rue Furstenberg, 1865, Musée Fabre, Montpellier
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  Little Italian Street Singer, 1866
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  Le Petit Jardinier (The Little Gardener), c. 1866–67, oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
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  Nature morte avec du poisson, Still life with fish, c. 1866–67
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  Portrait of Renoir, 1867, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay
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  Aigues-Mortes, 1867
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  The Family Reunion, c. 1867, Musée d'Orsay
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  Nature morte au héron, 1867
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  Etude pour une vendange, 1868
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  View of the Village, 1868, Musée Fabre, Montpellier
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  Fisherman with a Net, 1868
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  Portrait of Alphonse Tissie, 1868, Musée Fabre, Montpellier
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  Flowers, 1868
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  Portrait of Paul Verlaine, 1868, Dallas Museum of Art
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  Scène d'été, 1869, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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  Portrait of Edmond Maître, 1869
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  La Toilette, 1870, Musée Fabre
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  Black Woman with Peonies, 1870, National Gallery of Art
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  Paysage au bord du Lez, 1870, oil on canvas, Minneapolis Institute of Arts

• A Studio at Les Batignolles

• Pitman, Dianne W. (1998). Bazille: Purity, Pose and Painting in the 1860s. University Park: Penn State University Press. ISBN 978-0-271-01700-6.
• Rosenblum, Robert (1989). Paintings in the Musée d'Orsay. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang. ISBN 1-55670-099-7

 

Wikiquote has quotations related to Frédéric Bazille.

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frédéric Bazille.

• Frédéric Bazille at the National Gallery of Art
• Bazille Gallery at MuseumSyndicate Archived 2010-09-13 at the Wayback Machine
• Impressionism: a centenary exhibition, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (PDF available online), which contains material on Bazille (p. 37–39)