Pauline Orell

Research Status: Basic Last Updated: 2025-01-23 Diary Coverage: Up to 1881-02-24

A pseudonym adopted by Marie Bashkirtseff: "la citoyenne Pauline Orell", her name for attending the feminist society Le Droit des femmes (Hubertine Auclert's circle) in Dec. 1880 (1880-12-02, 1880-12-08; Mme de Daillens used "Alexandrine Norscott"), later reused as a disguise.

Diary References

• December 2 and 8, 1880: Marie chooses the name for the feminist society and attends under it.
• February 24, 1881: Marie disguises herself as "Pauline Orell" to visit the Folies-Bergère. She wears a thick veil and black wig (which makes her face look much broader). She tries on Alexis's male clothes but can't button them, so reverts to the female Pauline Orell disguise.

Analysis

The name is Marie's invention (RSR 2026-10-21, correcting an earlier note that treated it as a possible stage character); no external referent has been identified.

The disguise allows Marie to explore transgressive spaces (the Folies-Bergère's demi-monde) while maintaining a layer of protection and plausible deniability.

Notes

Further research needed to determine if "Pauline Orell" refers to a real person or is purely Marie's invention.