1840 -1916 · Brittany, Paris and Sèvres

Outdoor light, intense color and absorbed figures make Marie Bracquemond one of the most personal voices of impressionism.

Marie Anne Caroline Quivoron, known as Marie Bracquemond, was born in Brittany in 1840 and died in Sèvres in 1916. Self-taught in her early days, she exhibited at the Salon at a very young age and attracted the attention of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, from whom she received advice. This first training favored drawing, line and figure. She then obtained official commissions and made copies at the Louvre, where she met the engraver and painter Félix Bracquemond, whom she married in 1869. Installed with him in Sèvres, she worked in contact with a network where Manet, Degas, Monet, Sisley, Fantin-Latour and Gauguin. Her language then transformed profoundly. The clarity of the outdoors, the colored shadows and the freer touch gradually replaced the academic finish. She exhibited with the Impressionists in 1879, 1880 and 1886, one of the very rare women to participate under her own name in these events. The Lady in White, Le Goûter or the scenes painted in the garden of Sèvres gave familiar figures a monumental presence in the middle of a changing light. Gauguin encouraged him in 1886 to further intensify his tones. But Félix had difficulty supporting his modern choices and discouraged his career; she almost completely stopped exhibiting in the 1890s. But Félix had difficulty supporting his modern choices and discouraged his career; she almost completely stopped exhibiting in the 1890s. But Félix had difficulty supporting his modern choices and discouraged his career; she almost completely stopped exhibiting in the 1890s. Her rediscovery restored the coherence of an artist who had gone from Ingresque drawing to a color very personal impressionist. The "Marie Bracquemond" selection notably compares Self-portrait and Self-portrait of the artist with Bob. His reading favors composition.

Bracquemond does not dissolve the figure in the light: it lets it breathe, think and take its place among the colors of the garden.