Frederick Bazille Biography

Bazille paintings were associated with Impressionism.
 
  Bazille was born into a wealthy family in Montpelier. After beginning a medical career in Paris (1862), he began to study painting part-time with Gleyre where he met Renoir, with whom he shared a studio, Monet and Sisley. Through them he met Manet, and he worked with the Impressionists at Honfleur in 1864. He also painted at Barbizon in 1863. He gave up medicine in 1865 and shared a studio with Monet.

  His career was cut short by the Franco-Prussian war in which he fought and died. He was interested in plein air painting, but of figures rather than pure landscape, and his paintings are of interest for its exploration of the effects of light on flesh tones (e.g. Family on the Terrace, 1867, Paris, Musee d"Orsay). Bazille paintings retained a high finish and dark palette (e.g. Negro Woman and Peonies, 1870, Montpellier Musee Fabre). He was also a portraitist and recorder of the Impressionist scene (e.g. Studio in the Rue de la Condamini, 1870, Paris, Musee d"Orsay).