Frédéric Bazille

“Drawings for Paintings in the Work of Frédéric Bazille - National Gallery of Art”

“Hidden Paintings in the Work of Frédéric Bazille - the National Gallery of Art”

“He belongs.. ..,not as a talented beginner but as a master, to this history of the rebirth of French painting which restores the link between man, nature and light.. .He bears in his soul and in his art, mixed to his delicious charm and his painterly audacity, a sort of severe quality, a pride of retained youth he might hold from his protestant education.”

“the oeuvre of Frédéric Bazille is unclassifiable.”

“..that pure-hearted gentle knight. [after Bazille's death, 1870]”

“[Bazille had not died] romantically, galloping over a Delacroix' battlefield.. ..but stupidly, during the retreat, on a muddy road.”

“The tall fellow Bazille has done something I find quite fine [ in his exhibited painting 'View of the Village':] a young girl in a very light dress in the shadow of a tree beyond which one sees a town. There is a good deal of light, sunlight, He is trying to do what we [Berthe Morisot and her sister Edma both painted] have so often tried to bring off: to paint a figure in the open air [in the outdoor light]. This time I think he has succeed.”

“My dear Bazille, your painting 'La Femme' [ official title of his exhibited painting: 'View of the Village', 1868] has been accepted; I am glad to give you this good news. You were defended (between us) [in the jury of the Salon] by Bonnat, and guess who else? By Cabanel!”

“The subject matter is unimportant, provided what I have done is interesting as a painting. I chose the modern era because it is the one I understand best; I find it more alive for people who are alive.”

“I have no intention of being killed, there's too much I still want to do with my life.”

“I have almost finished a large landscape [painting 'Landscape by the Lez River' - [around Montpellier].. ..I am completely alone on the country; my cousins and my brother are at the resort. My father and mother are living in town; this solitude pleases me enormously; it makes me work a lot and read a lot.”

“I have started a large landscape which is beginning to take shape.”

“I've been amusing myself recently painting the interior of my studio with my friends. Manet is helping me with it [Manet painted Bazille, in front of the easel], and I may send it to the exhibition in Montpellier. This painting has delayed the one ['Scène d'Été'] I am going to do for the [Paris] Salon, but I am working hard and it won't take very long to complete”

“My friends have given me all sort of compliments on my painting [probably 'Scene d'Été'.] Nevertheless it would not be surprising if it were rejected or at least badly placed [on the Paris Salon ]. I started another ['La Toilette / The Toilette' ] which I think will be accepted; it is however very difficult to do. There are three women, one of whom is entirely nude, another nearly so. I have found a ravishing model who is going to cost me an arm and a leg: 10 francs a day plus bus fare for her and for her mother who accompanies her.”

“It is really too ridiculous for a reasonably intelligent person to expose himself to this kind of administrative caprice.”

“I've extended my hospitality to one of my friends, a former student of Gleyre's, who lacks a studio at the moment. Renoir, that's his name, is a real worker, he takes advantage of my models and helps me pay for them.”

“The sun allowed me only four days of work. Today it is beautiful and I am about to go out.. .I have begun three or four landscapes of the area around Aigues-Mortes. In my large canvas 'The Ramparts at Aigues-Mortes', I am going to do the walls of the city, reflected in a pond at sunset. This will be a very simple painting, which should not take long to do. Nevertheless I would need at least eight beautiful days. I hope that everything will be finished by the 12th [of June, 1867]”

“Letter to his mother, February 1867; as quoted in Michel Schulmann, Frédéric Bazille, 1841-1870, Catalogue raisonné: peintures, dessins, pastels, aquarelles; sa vie, son oeuvre, sa correspondence, Paris, 1995, p. 354”

“Monet has popped up out of nowhere with a collection of magnificent canvases.. .With Renoir, that makes two hard-up painters I am putting up. It's quite an infirmary here.”

“If I did not know how unhappy you [ Monet, his friend] are, I certainly would not take the trouble to respond to the letter that reached me this morning. You try to demonstrate to me that I don't keep my promises, but you have only succeeded in proving to me your ingratitude. As far as I know I had never had the air to give you charity. I know to the contrary, better than everyone, the value of the painting that I have purchased [Monet's painting 'Women in the garden' purchased by Bazille] and I very much regret not being wealthy enough to offer you better conditions. (WPJ 15)”