Frédéric Bazille
Jean Frédéric Bazille (ʒɑ̃ fʁedeʁik bazij; December 6, 1841 – November 28, 1870) was a French Impressionist painter. Many of Bazille's major works are examples of figure painting in which he placed the subject figure within a landscape painted en plein air.
Also recorded as Jean-Frédéric Bazille · Jean Frédéric Bazille · Frederic Bazille · Frederick Bazille
Frédéric Bazille

Frédéric Bazille · The Cleveland Museum of Art · Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund · CC0
- Name
- Frédéric Bazille
- Birth Name
- Jean Frédéric Bazille
- Born
- 6 December 1841
- Birthplace
- Montpellier, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
- Died
- 28 November 1870
- Place of death
- Beaune-la-Rolande, France
- Field
- Painting
- Movement
- Impressionism
- Nationality
- France
- Occupation
- painter
- Fields
- portrait · landscape · figure · still life · genre
- Movements
- Impressionism · Barbizon school · French Realism
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Documentary summary
Jean Frédéric Bazille (ʒɑ̃ fʁedeʁik bazij; December 6, 1841 – November 28, 1870) was a French Impressionist painter. Many of Bazille's major works are examples of figure painting in which he placed the subject figure within a landscape painted en plein air.
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Authority files
gnd · 1091345856 · museum · 6562498848 · wikidata · Q207298 · wikipedia · Frédéric Bazille
In this article
Biography
Biography
Training under Charles Gleyre is recorded. The recorded working language is French. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait, landscape, figure and still life. Places of work recorded in the authority are Paris, Fontainebleau and Honfleur. Works named in the authority record are View of the Village, The Pink Dress, Réunion de famille and Bazille's Studio. Work by Frédéric Bazille is recorded in the collections of Minneapolis Institute of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Musée Fabre.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Frédéric Bazille • Birth Name — Jean Frédéric Bazille • Born — 6 December 1841 • Birthplace — Montpellier, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France • Died — 28 November 1870 • Place of death — Beaune-la-Rolande, France • Field — Painting • Movement — Impressionism
Life and work
Life and work
• Illustration — Studio in Rue de La Condamine, 1870, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Among Bazille's friends portrayed are Pierre-Auguste Renoir sitting, and Édouard Manet next to Bazille, who portrays himself painting. Frédéric Bazille was born in Montpellier, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, into a wealthy wine merchant Protestant family. Bazille grew up in the Le Domaine de Méric, a wine-producing estate in Castelnau-le-Lez, near Montpellier, owned by his family. He became interested in painting after seeing some works of Eugène Delacroix. His family agreed to let him study painting, but only if he also studied medicine. Bazille began studying medicine in 1859, and moved to Paris in 1862 to continue his studies. There he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley, was drawn to Impressionist painting, and began taking classes in Charles Gleyre's studio. After failing his medical exam in 1864, he began painting full-time. His close friends included Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Édouard Manet. Bazille was generous with his wealth and helped support his less fortunate associates by giving them space in his studio and materials to use. Bazille was just twenty-three years old when he painted several of his best-known works, including The Pink Dress (c. 1864, Musée d'Orsay, Paris). This painting combines a portrait-like depiction of Bazille's cousin, Thérèse des Hours, who is seen from behind—and the sunlit landscape at which she gazes. His best-known painting is Family Reunion, painted 1867–1868 (Musée d'Orsay, Paris). Frédéric Bazille joined a Zouave regiment in August 1870, a month after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. On November 28th of that year he was with his unit at the Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande when his commanding officer was injured. That required him to take command and lead an assault on the German position. He was hit twice in the failed attack and died on the battlefield at the age of twenty-eight. His father travelled to the battlefield a few days later to take his body back for burial at Montpellier in the Protestant cemetery over a week later.
Personal life
Personal life
Bazille never married, claiming it was because of “an early heartbreak with a woman.” He developed intimate friendships with men, such as Edmond Maître, but was also melancholic and claimed to “hav[e] constant migraines while he was painting his nude men.” This and the homoeroticism of his paintings led to modern suggestions that Bazille may have been gay and conflicted about his sexuality.
In popular culture
In popular culture
Scholars have said that Bazille was the model for "the engaging figure of Félicien d'Hautecœur" in Émile Zola's novel Le Réve. Zola took him as the model for Félicien d'Hautecœur in his fairy tale Le Rêve, and the portrait the novelist paints of his hero seems a true likeness of the images of Bazille that have come down to us: "He resembled a magnificent Jesus, with his curly hair, his light beard, his straight—albeit slightly prominent—nose, and his dark eyes, filled with a haughty gentleness."
Main works
Main works
• La robe rose, (1864) – 147 x 110 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris • Studio on Rue Furstenberg, (1865) – 80 x 65 cm, Musée Fabre, Montpellier • Aigues-Mortes, (1867) – 46 x 55 cm, Musée Fabre, Montpellier • Self-portrait, (1865) – 109 x72 cm, Art Institute of Chicago • Family Reunion, (1867) – 152 x 230 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris • Le Pécheur à l'épervier, (1868) – 134 x 83 cm, Fondation Rau pour le tiers-monde, Zürich • View of the Village, (1868) – 130 x 89 cm, Musée Fabre, Montpellier • Scène d'été, (1869) – 158 x 158 cm, Cambridge, Harvard University • La Toilette, (1870) – 132 x 127 cm., Musée Fabre, Montpellier • L'Atelier de la rue Condamine, (1870) – 98 x 128.5 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris • Paysage au bord du Lez, (1870) – 137.8 x 202.5 cm, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis
Gallery
Gallery
• Illustration — Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frédéric Bazille painting The Heron • Illustration — Self Portrait, unknown date • Illustration — Study of Trees, 1863 • Illustration — Reclining Nude, 1864 • Illustration — The Pink Dress (View of Castelnau-le-Lez, Hérault), 1864, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay • Illustration — Chailly, 1865, Musée Fabre, Montpellier • Illustration — Studio on Rue Furstenberg, 1865, Musée Fabre, Montpellier • Illustration — Little Italian Street Singer, 1866 • Illustration — Le Petit Jardinier (The Little Gardener), c. 1866–67, oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston • Illustration — Nature morte avec du poisson, Still life with fish, c. 1866–67 • Illustration — Portrait of Renoir, 1867, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay • Illustration — Aigues-Mortes, 1867 • Illustration — The Family Reunion, c. 1867, Musée d'Orsay • Illustration — Nature morte au héron, 1867 • Illustration — Etude pour une vendange, 1868 • Illustration — View of the Village, 1868, Musée Fabre, Montpellier • Illustration — Fisherman with a Net, 1868 • Illustration — Portrait of Alphonse Tissie, 1868, Musée Fabre, Montpellier • Illustration — Flowers, 1868 • Illustration — Portrait of Paul Verlaine, 1868, Dallas Museum of Art • Illustration — Scène d'été, 1869, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts • Illustration — Portrait of Edmond Maître, 1869 • Illustration — La Toilette, 1870, Musée Fabre • Illustration — Black Woman with Peonies, 1870, National Gallery of Art • Illustration — Paysage au bord du Lez, 1870, oil on canvas, Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Origins and background
Origins and background
The following is established of origins and background. It is also recorded that frédéric Bazille was born in 1841 at Montpellier. Bazille died in 1870 at Beaune-la-Rolande.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Montpellier.
Birth place
Beaune-la-Rolande.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- OpenStreetMap gazetteer entry for Frédéric Bazille, Grand Rue Jean Moulin, Comédie, Centre, Montpellier, Hérault, Occitanie, France métropolitaine, 34062, France
Scholarly · OpenStreetMap Foundation
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q207298: Frédéric Bazille
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
scholarly publication
- Portrait of Frédéric Bazille at His Easel, Nineteenth-Century European Art, 1999
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 1999
reference work
- “Frédéric Bazille”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
OpenStreetMap gazetteer entry for Frédéric Bazille, Grand Rue Jean Moulin, Comédie, Centre, Montpellier, Hérault, Occitanie, France métropolitaine, 34062, FranceOpenStreetMap Foundation
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Institutional witnessInstitutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q207298: Frédéric BazilleWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessauthority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 1091345856, Exhibition Frédéric Bazille (1992 : Montpellier etc.).Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Born at
1- MontpellierPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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