Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Friday, 11 April 1884

I read Guy de Maupassant and then suddenly Zola. Heavens, what a difference. Zola and the rest is like Bastien-Lepage and the artists who think they are following him by painting peasant women and filthy wretches!1

# Vendredi 11 avril 1884

Saturday, 12 April 1884

At Sèvres.

Samedi 12 avril 1884

I am so occupied with the painting and with my correspondence with the unknown that I no longer have time to complain. Julian writes that the painting is on the cimaise.

Suis si occupée du tableau et de ma correspondance à l'inconnu que je n'ai plus le temps de me plaindre. Julian écrit que le tableau est sur la cimaise.

Notes

Marie distinguishes between Zola's authentic naturalism and the superficial imitators who copy his surface subjects (peasants, wretches) without his depth — exactly as she distinguished Bastien-Lepage from those who merely reproduce his rural subject matter. ↩