France – His parents wanted him to be a doctor. His visits to the Fabre museum in Montpellier, his hometown, and the revelation of modern painting by Alfred Bruyas, a great collector and patron, decided otherwise: Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870) would be a painter! At the school of fine arts of Paris, in the studio of Charles Gleyre, he received a solid classical formation. But instinctively he binded with the artists of the future impressionist avant-garde, such as Renoir and Sisley. Monet guided his first steps. As early as 1863, Bazille worked in the open air in the forest of Fontainebleau, following in the footsteps of the masters of the Barbizon and Courbet schools. With the appetite of youth, Bazille enjoyed all that the Parisian sociability of the Second Empire offered originality and talent. At the Batignolles, he took part in the discussions at the Café Guerbois, where Manet brought together his critical friends, artists and collectors, Émile Zola, Degas, Renoir, Monet, Pissarro, Fantin-Latour, Cézanne, photographer Nadar. Resort in Méric, the beautiful family property near Montpellier. There, from the terrace overlooking the small medieval town of Castelnau, he painted the Village View (1868), carefully prepared by pencil studies. The girl sitting under a pine stands out on a vast landscape flooded with light. Bazille brushes with sensuality the flesh roses of the delicately shaded face, the dress where shimmers the sun, the coolness of the green bushes, the distant stacking of the walls whitened by the sun. This masterpiece promises a master of impressionism. Alas, Bazille died of a Prussian bullet on November 28, 1870. He declared the day before: “For me, I am sure of not being killed, I have too many things to do in life. “

Technical Details

Issue Date: 20.02.2017
Designer: metteur en page Claude Perchat
Process: Héliogravure
Size: 40,85 x 52 mm
Values: €1.70