author
Marie Bashkirtseff
1858–1884
A brilliant young painter and diarist, she left behind a journal so vivid and honest that it made her famous after her death. Her work and writing capture the ambition, frustration, and artistic hunger of a life cut tragically short.
2 Audiobooks
Marie Bashkirtseff (From Childhood to Girlhood)
by Marie Bashkirtseff
Lettres de Marie Bashkirtseff Préface de François Coppée
by Marie Bashkirtseff
About the author
Born Maria Konstantinovna Bashkirtseva in 1858 near Poltava, Marie Bashkirtseff came from a wealthy family and spent much of her youth in Europe before settling in France. She studied art in Paris, especially at the Académie Julian, where she worked seriously toward a professional career at a time when women faced major barriers in the art world.
She is remembered not only for her paintings but also for the diary she kept from her teens onward. Published after her death as the Journal de Marie Bashkirtseff, it became widely read for its direct, emotionally open account of youth, illness, ambition, and the desire to be recognized.
Bashkirtseff died of tuberculosis in 1884, only 25 years old. Even with such a short life, she left a lasting impression as both an artist and a writer, and her journal still speaks powerfully to readers interested in creativity, self-invention, and the inner life of a determined young woman.