Bazille and Camille (Study for "Déjeuner sur l'Herbe")
1865
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 93 x 68.9 cm (36 5/8 x 27 1/8 in.) framed: 121.9 x 98.4 x 10.7 cm (48 x 38 3/4 x 4 3/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CF
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
Accession Number
1970.17.41
Art Historical Context
In 1865, Claude Monet created *Bazille and CamilleStudy for "Déjeuner l'Herbe")*, an oil on canvas painting measuring 93 x 68.9 cm, now housed in the National Gallery of as part of the Ailsa Bruce Collection. This intimate study captures two figures—Frédéric Bazille, a fellow aspiring artist and close friend who tragically died young in the Franco-Prussian War, and Doncieux, Monet's future wife and frequent muse—posed in a sun-dappled outdoor setting. It served as a preparatory work for Monet's ambitious large-scale painting *Déjeuner sur l'Herbe*, directly inspired by Édouard Manet's scandalo...
About the Artist
Claude Monet · 1840–1926
Claude Monet, born Oscar-Claude Monet on November 14, 1840, in Paris and raised in Le Havre, Normandy, began his artistic journey as a successful teenage caricaturist. His formal training started at the Le Havre secondary school of the arts in 1851, where he received his first drawing lessons from Jacques-François Ochard. Around 1858, he met Eugène Boudin, who became his pivotal mentor, introducin...