1867
Huile sur toile [rentoilé en 1947]
27 x 35 cm - 10 5/8 x 13 3/4 in.
Collection particulière
Dernière mise à jour : 2022-04-03 06:23:38
Référence : MSb-35
Famille de l’artiste - Frédéric Bazille, neveu du peintre - Par descendance aux propriétaires actuels - Vente Paris, Cornette de Saint-Cyr, 17 juin 2021, n° 8 [Non vendu].
Paris, galerie Wildenstein, 1950, n° 44 - Montpellier, New York, 1992-1993, n° 49, repr. p. 144.
Sarraute, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue des peintures et dessins, 1948, n° 52, p. 115 [Thèse de l'Ecole du Louvre non publiée] - Daulte, Frédéric Bazille et son temps, 1952, n° 28, p. 177 (repr.) [Thèse sous la direction de Gaston Poulain] - Daulte, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, 1992, n° 31, p. 166 (repr.) [Réédition de 1952 avec photos en couleur] - Jourdan, Cat. exp. Montpellier, New York, 1992-1993, n° 49, repr. p. 144 - Schulman, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné, 1995, n° 35, repr. p. 158 - Schulman, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné numérique, 2022, n° 35.
This painting depicts a woman sitting on a bench under the Méric chestnut tree, perhaps Mrs Gaston Bazille. One can make out the low wall found in The Family Gathering, as well as the surrounding countryside.
First, one will notice the greenish tones of the entire painting and the barely bluish sky enhanced by a very pale pink. It is the synthetic aspect that is striking here. The trees are seen in a global way without letting the details appear, as later in some painters of the School of Pont-Aven.
Sarraute does not consider this painting as a preparation for The Family Gathering. He is probably right to dissociate it, the spirit of the two works being quite different. On the other hand, they are related in their themes, which leads us to date the Woman on the Terrace at Méric to 1867. In any case, this painting shows us once again how much this place was a source of inspiration for Bazille.
