Paris

Research Status: Comprehensive Last Updated: 2026-05-24 Diary Coverage: Throughout entire diary (1873-1884) Referenced: 1,280+ times across all carnets

Overview

Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. For Marie Bashkirtseff, Paris was the supreme city -- the center of artistic training, social ambition, and intellectual life in nineteenth-century Europe. She first visited as a child, returned repeatedly through the 1870s, and settled there permanently from 1877 until her death in 1884. More than any other place, Paris shaped her identity as an artist and defined the stage on which she sought fame.

Marie's Own Words

Marie's relationship with Paris is captured in some of her most vivid diary passages:

> J'ai presque pousse un cri en entrant dans la place de la Concorde, tant c'est grand et beau. J'ai vu Vienne, Londres, Rome, Florence... et je n'ai jamais rien vu de semblable, d'approchant a la place de la Concorde, les Champs-Elysees et le Bois. Ah ! qui a vu Paris me comprend. C'est large, c'est grand, c'est propre, gracieux, artistique, pittoresque, beau, tres beau, admirable. > -- 6 July 1876 (carnet 063)

> Rome peut etre comparee a une femme fantasque de beaute et d'esprit, mais Paris c'est la femme accomplie. > -- 6 July 1876 (carnet 063)

On Paris as the only possible place for an artist: > Promenade au Bois ou on rencontre un tas de figures de connaissance, il n'y a que Paris pour ces exhibitions. > -- 25 April 1880 (carnet 088)

On the city as both inspiration and prison: > Une quantite de choses leur echappent, des riens, des subtilites, des reflets qui sont pour moi un champ d'observations et une source de plaisirs inconnus du vulgaire... les mille details de Paris. Un passant, une expression d'yeux d'enfants ou de femme, une annonce, que sais-je ? quand je vais au Louvre, traverser la cour, monter l'escalier par le sillon trace par les millions de pieds qui l'ont foule... > -- 22 April 1883 (carnet 099) > Au lieu de rester des mois entiers enfermee dans ce 30 de la rue Ampere comme dans une bastille. Vivre enfin ! > -- 30 August 1884 (carnet 105)

Marie's Paris Addresses

The Bashkirtseff family moved through a series of increasingly prestigious addresses as they established themselves in Parisian society:

Early Visits (1874)

Marie's first extended Paris stay was in autumn 1874 (carnet 024). The family stayed in rented lodgings and spent their days shopping, visiting acquaintances, and driving in the Bois de Boulogne. Marie was fourteen and already obsessed with social display: she ordered carriages from Binder, the celebrated coachmaker, and agonized over hats from Virot.

71 Champs-Elysees and 67 Avenue de l'Alma (1877-1882)

When the family settled permanently in Paris in late 1877, they took apartments at 71 Champs-Elysees, with an additional apartment at 67 avenue de l'Alma nearby. Marie notes the address at the opening of carnet 077: "Paris, Champs Elysees 71 avenue de l'Alma 67." From the windows of the avenue de l'Alma apartment, "on voit passer les voitures des Champs-Elysees." Marie had her own "salon-atelier" here -- her first private workspace in Paris. This prestigious location, at the heart of the fashionable Right Bank, placed the family in the diplomatic and wealthy quarter near the Champs-Elysees.

30 Rue Ampere / Avenue de Villiers (1882-1884)

In June 1882, the family moved to an hotel particulier (private mansion) at 30 rue Ampere, at the corner of rue Bremontier, in the 17th arrondissement's Plaine Monceau quarter. The house was visible from avenue de Villiers "a la hauteur du 70 de la susdite avenue." Marie described the house in detail: vast cellars with kitchen and billiard room; a first floor with vestibule, large salon, dining room, and garden "ou les voitures peuvent entrer"; five bedrooms with dressing rooms and a bathroom on the second floor; and on the top floor -- Marie's domain -- an antichamber, two bedrooms, a library, and a studio. The studio and library were joined by an immense opening, creating a space twelve metres long by seven wide, with light from three sides and from above.

Marie was devastated to leave the Champs-Elysees: "C'est fait. Nous avons l'hotel. Je suis navree... Quitter les Champs Elysees !!! Sans compter l'habitude..." (24 June 1882). But the move to avenue de Villiers territory fulfilled her dream of living among artists -- the neighbourhood was home to painters, sculptors, and the Bastien-Lepage brothers at nearby boulevard Malesherbes. She wrote: "en les habitant je n'avais qu'un reve, l'avenue de Villiers et les voisinages artistiques... Et de connaitre des artistes" (22 June 1882).

This was the house where Marie spent her final years, working in her top-floor atelier, entertaining artists at dinner, and where she died on 31 October 1884. In her last months, she called it her "bastille." The hotel particulier at 68 rue Ampere (the same building, renumbered) was registered as a French historic monument in 2007.

Haussmann's Paris: The City Marie Knew

The Paris Marie inhabited was essentially brand new. Baron Haussmann's massive renovation (1853-1871), commissioned by Napoleon III, had demolished much of medieval Paris and replaced it with the wide boulevards, uniform stone facades, and grand perspectives that define the city today. The third and final phase of construction, begun in 1867, was still finishing when Marie arrived.

Marie experienced Haussmann's Paris as a completed spectacle. Her exclamation at the Place de la Concorde -- "C'est large, c'est grand, c'est propre" -- is essentially a description of Haussmann's aesthetic: scale, cleanliness, order. The grand avenues she drove along daily (Champs-Elysees, avenue de l'Alma, boulevard Malesherbes) were all products of Haussmann's vision. The social geography she navigated -- the wealthy western arrondissements, the aristocratic Faubourg Saint-Germain, the bohemian Latin Quarter -- was shaped by Haussmann's demolitions, which had displaced working-class populations eastward and consolidated bourgeois Paris in the west.

Key landmarks of Haussmann's Paris that Marie frequented:
- Place de la Concorde: The vast square that overwhelmed her on first sight
- Boulevard Malesherbes: The grand boulevard near her rue Ampere house; her neighbours included the Bastien-Lepage brothers
- Palais Garnier (completed 1875): The new opera house, centerpiece of Haussmann's vision, where Marie attended performances and masked balls
- Parc Monceau: The elegant park near her 17th-arrondissement home

The Bois de Boulogne Ritual

The Bois de Boulogne, the great park on Paris's western edge, was the setting for one of the most important social rituals of Marie's world. Every afternoon, the Parisian haute bourgeoisie descended on the Bois in carriages for the "tour des lacs" -- a slow procession around the lakes where one displayed one's equipage, dress, and companions. The ritual was an essential information exchange: by studying who rode with whom, what they wore, and how they behaved, society tracked fortunes, romances, and alliances.

Marie participated in this ritual throughout her Paris years. Her first full description, from autumn 1874, captures the Bois through the eyes of a dazzled sixteen-year-old: > Vraiment dans toute ma vie je n'ai rien vu d'aussi beau que le Bois de Boulogne, ca n'est pas une beaute naturelle, sublime, non, mais c'est elegant, gracieux, riche. C'est comme une, je suis honteuse de la comparaison, c'est comme une cocotte de qualite extra-fine. L'art est si parfait, que c'est la nature. > -- 1874 (carnet 024, from raw carnet)

The Bois served multiple social functions for Marie:
- The Allee des Acacias: The most fashionable carriage promenade, later immortalized by Proust in Du cote de chez Swann. Marie drove here and noted the passing society (9 July 1876)
- Longchamp races: Sunday horse races that were major social occasions. Marie attended in September 1874, agonizing over her dress: "Ma robe grise garnie de velours vert au corsage est tres mal faite, dans elle je me sens comme Nabuchodonosor devait se sentir pendant qu'il etait change en bete"
- Jardin d'Acclimatation: The zoological and botanical garden within the Bois
- Pre Catalan: A fashionable garden and restaurant within the Bois, visited in Marie's final summer (July 1884)
- Horseback riding: Marie rode in the Bois as an aristocratic pastime (April 1883)

The Paris Salon

The Salon, the annual juried art exhibition, was the central institution of Marie's artistic life. Held at the Palais de l'Industrie on the Champs-Elysees, it was the gateway to official recognition for artists in France.

How the Salon Worked

Artists submitted works to a jury that decided acceptance or rejection. Accepted works were hung in the vast exhibition halls -- placement mattered enormously, with the best positions at eye level ("bonne exposition") and the worst "en haut" (skied, near the ceiling). A separate awards jury then voted medals and honorable mentions. The hierarchy ran: mention honorable (lowest official recognition), third-class medal (bronze, 400 francs), second-class medal (silver, 600 francs), first-class medal (gold, 1,000 francs), and the grande medaille d'honneur. In 1881, the government withdrew official sponsorship and the Societe des Artistes Francais took over.

Marie's Salon Experience

Marie dreamed of Salon glory for years before achieving it. Her fantasy was characteristically vivid: "je me figurais que j'allais pleurer dans le gilet de Julian, embrasser Tony, m'evanouir en plein palais de l'industrie" (7 April 1883). In May 1883, she received her mention honorable -- the lowest award, but still a significant recognition. Her reaction was typically Marie -- contradictory, theatrical, and funny:

> Je l'ai! Et me voila rassuree et tranquille, je ne dis pas heureuse... Je pourrais dire contente... > -- 23 May 1883 (carnet 099)

She then learned that her oil painting Irma had been moved "tout en haut" (to the worst position) and the mention had been attached to her pastel instead. Prince Bojidar stole the mention card from the exhibition and brought it to her; she immediately tied it to the tail of her dog Coco.

Tony Robert-Fleury, her teacher, revealed the jury's "tripotages" (backroom dealings) and told her she was in "une situation exceptionnelle" -- disadvantaged as a foreigner and as someone perceived to be wealthy. Marie's fury at the system was scathing: "Visite au Salon ou nous ne rencontrons personne. Il y avait le desir de rencontrer Jules. Enfin... Je ne crois pas que jamais il y ait eu autant d'horribles peintures que cette annee" (5 May 1883).

The Academie Julian

The Academie Julian, where Marie studied painting from October 1877, was located in the Passage des Panoramas in the 2nd arrondissement. Founded by Rodolphe Julian in 1868, it was one of the very few Parisian art schools that admitted women at a time when the Ecole des Beaux-Arts barred them entirely. Women studied separately from men but followed the same curriculum, including drawing and painting from nude models.

The women's atelier was overseen by visiting professors including Tony Robert-Fleury and William Bouguereau. By 1880 there were about forty women students; by 1885 there were four hundred. Marie quickly established herself as the dominant personality in the atelier, forming a rivalry with Louise Breslau and declaring "il n'y a que nous deux" (28 December 1877). Julian himself recognized Marie's social position and artistic talent, sometimes appropriating students' studies he admired.

The Opera and Theatre

The Palais Garnier, completed in 1875, was the premier social venue of Marie's Paris. She attended both performances and the famous bals de l'Opera -- masked balls that allowed extraordinary social freedom. In January 1878, Marie attended the bal de l'Opera in disguise, wearing a black domino and velvet mask, to pursue her intrigue with Paul de Cassagnac. She exchanged words with him while masked, observed him "tres entoure de femmes," and stayed until four in the morning with Captain Blanc as her escort.

Other theatrical venues Marie frequented:
- Opera-Comique: For lighter works and operettas
- Comedie-Francaise: Classical French theatre
- Theatre de la Renaissance: Where she saw La Tzigane (Strauss operetta, December 1877)
- Cirque: Popular entertainment; she attended with family and friends

The Russian Community in Paris

Marie existed at the intersection of Russian emigre society and French artistic circles. The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral at 12 rue Daru in the 8th arrondissement, consecrated in 1861, was the spiritual center of the Russian community. Marie mentions attending "l'eglise" (likely rue Daru) on Sundays and marking Russian New Year on 13 January (the Julian calendar running thirteen days behind the Gregorian).

The Russian presence in Marie's social world was constant: Mme Sapogenikoff encountered on the boulevards; the Engelhardt family as regular dinner guests; M. Eschmann "un russe" among her visitors; the Anitchkoffs as devoted family friends; M. Bagnitsky, correspondent for the Novoye Vremya (New Times) of St. Petersburg, seeking an interview about Marie as a notable Russian painter in Paris. At a soiree, the guest list was classified by national constituency: "le fils Engelhardt et la Cernitsky la colonie russe et M. Anitchkoff la diplomatie" (25 May 1880).

Marie's relationship with the Russian community was ambivalent. In Rome, she avoided church "toujours a cause de ces Russes qui vont faire des commentaires" (5 March 1876). Yet Russian artists formed an important part of her cultural world -- the painters Swedomsky, Katorbinsky, and Botkine circulated through Russian artistic circles in both Rome and Paris.

Cafe and Restaurant Culture

Marie's Paris was punctuated by the rituals of dining and socializing at the city's celebrated establishments:
- Cafe Riche: Fashionable boulevard restaurant frequented by literary society (mentioned 27 September 1874)
- Worth: The legendary couturier on rue de la Paix, where Marie ordered clothes
- Baccarat: Where she bought crystal on the boulevard
- Pre Catalan: Fashionable restaurant in the Bois de Boulogne
- Les Ambassadeurs: Cafe-concert on the Champs-Elysees

Dining at home was the more common social form. Marie hosted frequent dinners at rue Ampere, mixing Russian emigres, French artists, and political figures. One memorable evening (9 May 1883) brought together the Republican poet Clovis Hugues, the painter Bastien-Lepage, Rodolphe Julian, Tony Robert-Fleury, and Prince Bojidar -- "un petit diner republicano-artistico-poetique." Hugues recited poems and did political imitations; Bastien-Lepage sketched caricatures; Marie held the room's attention discussing Salon entries with Julian.

Historical Context (1870s-1880s)

Post-Commune Recovery

Paris in Marie's time was recovering from devastating recent trauma:
- Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871): The Prussian siege left the city starving; the Arc de Triomphe still bore the humiliation of enemy troops marching through
- Paris Commune (1871): The revolutionary government and its violent suppression by Versailles troops left scars across the city -- the Tuileries Palace was burned, the Vendome Column toppled
- Third Republic: The political regime under which Marie lived was still fragile, contested by Bonapartists (like Marie's idol Cassagnac), Royalists, and Republicans

The Belle Epoque Beginning

The years 1877-1884 saw Paris entering what would later be called the Belle Epoque:
- Urban transformation: Haussmann's boulevards completed; the Trocadero built for the 1878 Exposition Universelle
- Cultural flowering: Impressionism was challenging academic painting; Naturalism dominated literature; cafe-concert culture flourished
- Social divisions: The "Tout-Paris" of Marie's world -- the wealthy western arrondissements -- coexisted with working-class Paris to the east, a division Haussmann had deliberately engineered
- Political ferment: Bonapartists, Royalists, and Republicans competed for power; Marie followed politics closely through Le Pays (Bonapartist newspaper) and her contacts

Social Geography of Marie's Paris

Marie's diary maps the social topography of the city with precision:
- Faubourg Saint-Germain: The old aristocracy; conservative, royalist. Marie aspired to enter these circles but was largely excluded as a foreigner
- Champs-Elysees quarter: New wealth, diplomatic quarter, and Marie's first permanent Paris neighbourhood. Hotels particuliers of the international elite
- Plaine Monceau / Avenue de Villiers: The artists' quarter where Marie moved in 1882. Home to painters and sculptors, including the Bastien-Lepage brothers
- Latin Quarter: Students, bohemians, intellectual life. Site of the Academie Julian's ateliers
- Montmartre: The emerging avant-garde; less relevant to Marie's academic art world but part of the city's artistic geography

Marie's Relationship with Paris

Marie viewed Paris simultaneously as:
- Artistic necessity: The only city where she could receive proper training (Academie Julian) and gain official recognition (the Salon)
- Social stage: The arena for the fame and social standing she craved; "il n'y a que Paris pour ces exhibitions"
- Sensory paradise: A city whose "mille details" -- a passerby, a child's expression, the worn steps of the Louvre -- fed her artistic sensibility
- Prison: As her tuberculosis progressed, the rue Ampere house became a cage; she had not left Paris for two years by her final summer

Contrasts with Other Cities

Marie's comparisons reveal what Paris meant to her:
- vs. Nice: Pleasant but provincial, lacking artistic opportunities. Marie spent winters there with family but always longed for Paris
- vs. Rome: Historically magnificent but artistically conservative. "Rome peut etre comparee a une femme fantasque de beaute et d'esprit, mais Paris c'est la femme accomplie"
- vs. Vienna, London, Florence: None could match the Place de la Concorde
- vs. Russian estates: Family roots but culturally isolated; "nos provinces russes" had no artistic life

Related Entries

- #Rue_Ampere - Final Paris residence (30 rue Ampere)
- #Bois_de_Boulogne - Daily social ritual
- #Academie_Julian - Art studies
- #Salon - Annual art exhibition
- #Opera_de_Paris - Palais Garnier performances and masked balls

Sources

%% 2026-05-24T12:00:00 RSR: Comprehensive expansion of PARIS glossary entry. Previously 90 lines marked Basic; now includes Marie's own diary quotes, detailed address history with diary evidence, sections on Haussmann's renovation, the Bois de Boulogne ritual, the Salon system, the Academie Julian, the Opera, the Russian community, and cafe culture. All diary quotes sourced from original French text in carnets 024, 063, 077, 088, 095, 099, 100, 105, 106. Historical context sourced from Wikipedia articles on Haussmann's renovation, Bois de Boulogne, Paris Salon, Academie Julian, Palais Garnier, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Address details verified against diary entries: Champs-Elysees 71 / avenue de l'Alma 67 (carnet 077, 23 Dec 1877); 30 rue Ampere at corner of rue Bremontier, visible from avenue de Villiers at height of no. 70 (carnet 095, 24 June 1882). Historic monument registration of hotel at 68 rue Ampere (renumbered) from French Wikipedia. %%

- Wikipedia: Haussmann's renovation of Paris, Bois de Boulogne, Paris Salon, Palais Garnier, Academie Julian, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Belle Epoque, Franco-Prussian War, Paris Commune, French Third Republic
- Victorian Paris blog: Bois de Boulogne: The Rendezvous of Wealth and Opulence
- Impressionism.nl: Paris Salon awards system
- Transatlantic Cultures: Academie Julian from a Transatlantic Perspective
- French Wikipedia: Hotel du 68 rue Ampere (historic monument registration 2007)
- Marie Bashkirtseff's diary (uncensored), carnets 024, 063, 077, 088, 095, 099, 100, 105, 106