1848 -1884 · Damvillers, Paris and European naturalism

Peasant realism, clear light and precision of the portrait make Jules Bastien-Lepage the great international renovator of naturalism.

Jules Bastien-Lepage was born in 1848 in Damvillers, in the Meuse, into a family of small landowners. After an administrative job, he entered Alexandre Cabanel's studio in 1867 and then the School of Fine Arts. He started at the Salon of 1870 and obtained a medal in 1874 thanks to the Portrait of his grandfather. Two failures at the Prix de Rome took him away from the great academic genre and brought him back to the landscapes and workers of his childhood. Les Foins in 1877 then October, potato harvest, took him away from the great academic genre and brought him back to the landscapes and workers of his childhood. Les Foins in 1877 then October, potato harvest, took him away from the great academic genre and brought him back to the landscapes and workers of his childhood. Les Foins in 1877 then October, potato harvest, combined precise observation, daring framing, open-air light and traditional monumentality. Bastien-Lepage quickly became a reference in naturalism european. His portraits of Sarah Bernhardt, republican figures and relatives reveal the same psychological frankness. The Annunciation to the Shepherds retains the ambition of the sacred subject, but its space and its light are already seeking a concrete truth. Traveler in England, Switzerland and Italy, he also painted street children and landscapes. Died at thirty-six in 1884, he condensed in a decade a work which reconciled rural realism, Salon tradition and impressionist innovations. Died at thirty-six in 1884, he condensed in a decade a work which reconciled rural realism, Salon tradition and impressionist innovations. Died at thirty-six in 1884, he condensed in a decade a work which reconciled rural realism, Salon tradition and impressionist innovations. The "Jules Bastien-Lepage" selection notably compares The Annunciation to the Shepherds and Laura, Lady Alma-Tadema. His reading favors movement.

Bastien-Lepage gives the fields and faces the same attention: a precise truth, bathed in air and free of all folklore.