THE MEETING
By MARIE BASHKIRTSEFF


THE MEETING
MARIE BASHKIRTSEFF (1858 or 1860-1884)
IN THE LUXEMBOURG, PARIS

Marie Bashkirtseff was one of those unfortunate geniuses whose lives are one long struggle with a more or less hysterical emotion. As her famous " Journal" shows, she lived for emotions, for success and for fame. On April 3rd, 1883, she wrote in her journal: " I feel within me the power to render whatever strikes me. I feel a new force, a confidence in myself, which trebles my faculties. To-morrow I am going to begin a picture which charms me." The next entry runs: " Red Letter Day, Wednesday, April 4th. Six street children grouped, their heads close to one another, half length only. The eldest is about twelve, and the youngest six. The tallest, seen almost from the back, holds a nest, and the others are looking on, in various and suitable attitudes. The sixth is a little girl of four, seen from the back, her head raised and her arms crossed. The description may sound commonplace, but, in reality, all these heads together produce something excessively interesting." That was her first idea for "The Meeting," which was exhibited in the Salon of 1884, and created a widespread interest throughout Europe. After her death it was bought by the State and hung in the Luxembourg.

Into her brief life of twenty-four years she crowded a variety of experiences which she has immortalised in her remarkable " Journal." She was seventeen when she finally determined to devote herself to art, and her astonishing capacity was the wonder of her masters, who could hardly credit the fact that she was practically untrained.

She reproduced life as she saw it, finding in the streets of Paris and in its types a rich source of inspiration which she delighted to express in colour as Zola expressed it in words.

From the book "Famous Paintings" Volume 2 printed in 1913.

Large files of this public domain print are available at Stock Photos at Songs of Praise
(Firefox users must click again on the large photo to see the very large image.)




Online "Name the Painting"









Marie Bashkirtseff
at Wikipedia

From Childhood to Girlhood by Marie Bashkirtseff
online book

Marie Bashkirtseff
burial place


Famous Paintings in this Series





James Archer
My Great Grandmother


Bashkirtseff
The Meeting


Bouguereau
Charity


John Brett
From the Dorsetshire Cliffs


Arnesby Brown
The River Bank


Joseph Clark
Mother's Darling


John Constable
The Hay-Wain


Jean Baptiste Camille
Corot
The Fisherman's Hut


Jean Baptiste Camille
Corot
A Flood


Leonardo Da Vinci
Monna Lisa


Edouard Detaille
The Dream


Henri Fantin-Latour
Flowers


Thomas Gainsborough
Queen Charlotte


Thomas Gainsborough
The Market Cart


Jean Baptiste Greuze
The Head of a Girl


Jean Baptiste Greuze
Fidelity


James Clark Hook
Home With the Tide


Alfred William Hunt
Windsor Castle


Josef Israels
The Shipwrecked Mariner


B.W. Leader
The Stream in Summer-time


Madame Vigee Le Brun
Portrait of the Artist

Alphonse Legros
A Canal With a Fisherman


Anton Mauve
Watering Horses


J.L.E. Meissonier
The Cavalier


Sir J.E. Millais
Speak! Speak!


Sir J.E. Mallais
My First Sermon


George Morland
The Reckoning


George Morland
The Inside of a Stable


Murillo
The Immaculate Conception
of the Virgin


Alfred Parsons
When Nature Painted
All Things Gay


Ralph Peacock
The Sisters


Rembrandt
Syndics of the
Cloth Merchants' Guild


Guido Reni
"Ecce Homo"


Sir Joshua Reynolds
Portrait of Mrs. Richard Hoare
With Her Infant Son


Briton Riviere
The Temptation
in the Wilderness


Dante Gabriel
Rossetti
Day Dreams


John Singer Sargent
Miss Ellen Terry
as Lady Macbeth


Lady Stanley
(Dorothy Tennant)
His First Offence


Jan Steen
Grace Before Meat


Marcus Stone
On the Road from
Waterloo to Paris


Constant Troyon
Watering Cattle


H.S. Tuke
"All Hands to the Pumps"


Velazquez
King Philip IV. of Spain


S.E. Waller
Sweethearts and Wives


Thomas Webster
The Smile

Index
Famous Paintings Volume 1
Art Gallery

Index
Famous Paintings Volume 2
Art Gallery

Index
Art Appreciation
Lessons