The Pink Dress

Originally from Montpellier, Bazille moved to Paris in 1862 to continue studying medicine. While attending the university, he used to visit Gleyre's studio where he met the young artists who later would form the Impressionist group. Bazille used to go with them to paint directly in the open air. This painting, created during the summer of 1864, is a beautiful, early example of this.

The woman on the painting is Thérèse des Hours, one of Bazille's cousins. The Bazille and des Hours families used to spend every summer on the magnificent estate of Méric, in Castelnau-le-Lez, a village near Montpellier. The house and its grounds were slightly higher up, overlooking the village. Bazille set Thérèse in a pose on the terrace at the far end of the garden.
She is wearing a simple dress with vertical pink and silver-grey stripes, and a black apron. She has her back turned to the viewer, and looks towards the village and its roofs covered in the orange coloured tiles typical of the Midi.

See you tomorrow!

P.S. For Impressionists traveled a lot but in Paris, it was Montmartre where they often lived and worked. Let's take a trip to this magical quarter of the City of Lights <3