Jean-Frédéric Bazille

Jean-Frédéric Bazille was an aspiring painter and a largely forgotten member in the friend circle of notable impressionist painters such as Monet, Renoir, and Sisley. They’ve been noted to travel, work, and share studios together. Although Bazille is not often recalled in art history, he played a large part in the formation of the impressionist movement as he was active in the centre of it all. 

Bazille was born in 1841 in a city in France called Montpellier. He was born into a wealthy but strict family which would play a large part in his ethos as an artist. His father forced him into medical school which made Bazille miserable. The depressed Bazille attended med school until 1864 where he failed his exams and promptly dropped out. Monet was elated with this development while his father predictably was less amused. His father relented to letting Bazille pursue his dream as a painter but kept control of his finances.

My personal favorite aspect of his art is his intuitive sense of colours and eye for texture. It’s most prominent in his nature focused art where he uses vivid hues and delicate but loose brush strokes.

Tragically, in 1870 Bazille died in the Franco-German war, three months after one of his paintings, “Summer Scene Bathers” finally got into the Paris Salon. He only painted for seven years before dying at the young age of twenty-eight. His friends would later move on to lead the next movement impressionism, but Bazille never had the chance to flourish with them. His life was cruelly cut short when he just started succeeding in art and overcoming the hurdle of his unsupportive parents.