Musée No:583.156
Regular price £25.00Self-Portrait
Artist: William Bouguereau
Date : 1879
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) was a French academic painter. He used mythological themes, creating modern versions of classical subjects. During his lifetime he was particularly successful in France and the United States. However, as the archetypal salon painter of his time, he was greatly disliked by the upcoming Impressionist movement. By the early 1900s, Bouguereau and his style were no longer popular with the public, it wasn‘t until the 1980s that there was a revival of interest. He is known to have completed 822 known paintings, but many are lost.
One of his paintings shown at the 1863 Salon was bought by Napoleon III, and gifted to his wife the Empress Eugénie. Another work, Bather (1864), a ‘shocking’ nude, was an incredible success at the Ghent Exhibition in Belgium. He was associated with the Académie Julian and from 1875 onwards he gave lessons in drawing and painting, along with advice, to hundreds of art students from all over the world. Several of them went on to have distinguished artistic careers, some following his style, others like Henri Matisse rejecting it completely.
Towards the end of his life he spoke about his love for painting: "Each day I go to my studio full of joy; in the evening when obliged to stop because of darkness I can scarcely wait for the next morning to come ... if I cannot give myself to my dear painting I am miserable."