Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Saturday, 21 May 1881

Yet another day of being pulled apart!
This morning I finished the portrait of little Mlle Maurel. Villevieille was there, her mother came, my family and Alexis. Then in the afternoon came the Princess and Mme Gavini — everyone weighs in — we go to see an alienist I believe, who orders me to take the waters at Karlsbad. In the end all of this concludes with an evening at the circus, to which I go very elegantly turned out, because we are cited in Le Voltaire among the most elegant society women. I am called very pretty "and very elegant" and my father is named Marshal of the Nobility in Russia.
Both Karageorgevitches are with us, and then Kireyewsky, the Gavinis, etc., etc.
Ah — during the day I went to Tony's, where I found Beaumetz the painter — you will remember him, Caillas's friend. We talked, and they tried to give me encouragement and assure me that I am doing very well in painting, that I need only continue as I am going, etc., etc. They are right — but they do not understand how pressed I am... all of this, you see... In short.

Notes

Médecin aliéniste: a physician specialising in mental illness — what would now be called a psychiatrist. The word "aliéniste" reflects 19th-century terminology for doctors who treated those considered mentally alienated. The irony of the consultation is not lost on Marie. ↩
Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic): one of the most fashionable European spa destinations, whose alkaline waters were prescribed for digestive, liver, and constitutional ailments. Ordering the waters there alongside her pulmonary doctors' recommendations reflects the scattershot medical advice Marie is receiving. ↩
Le Voltaire: a republican, anticlerical Paris daily that covered society events and the arts. Being cited in its columns among elegant women was a mark of social visibility. ↩
Beaumetz: likely Charles-Aimé Beaumetz (1845–1888), a French painter and politician, later Under-Secretary for Fine Arts. ↩