
Adolphe-William Bouguereau Painting Reproductions Gallery 7 of 10
1825-1905French Academic Classicism Painter
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (November 30, 1825 - August 19, 1905) was a French academic painter.
Bouguereau was born in La Rochelle.
A student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he won the Prix de Rome in 1850 and his realistic genre paintings and mythological themes were exhibited at the annual exhibitions of the Paris Salon for his entire working life. Although he fell into disregard in the early 20th century, due perhaps to his staunch opposition to the Impressionists, there is a new appreciation for his work. In his lifetime, Bouguereau painted eight hundred and twenty-six paintings.
In his own time, Bouguereau was considered to be one of the greatest painters in the world. In 1900, his contemporaries Degas and Monet reportedly named him as most likely to be remembered as the greatest 19th century French painter by the year 2000, although with Degas' famous trenchant wit, and the aesthetic tendencies of the two Impressionists, it is possible the statement was meant as an ironic comment on the taste of the future public. Bouguereau's works were eagerly bought, at high prices, especially by American millionaires. After about 1920, Bouguereau fell into disrepute. Some assert this may have been consciously engineered by the new "art expert establishment", who resented his former opposition to new developments in painting, but it is likely that more profound societal factors were instrumental to this enormous shift in taste and sensibility. For decades, his name was not even mentioned in encyclopedias. Today, over one hundred museums throughout the world exhibit his works.
At a rather advanced age, Bouguereau was married for the second time, to fellow artist Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau, one of his pupils. He also used his influence to open many French art institutions to women for the first time, including the Academie francaise.
He died in La Rochelle.
229 Paintings of Bouguereau
Private Collection
The Kiss
$1706
$66.54
Private Collection
La Tricoteuse
$1597
Art Gallery of Ontario Toronto Canada
Study of a Girl's Head
$1186
$48.07
Private Collection
Napoleon III Visiting Flood Victims of Tarascon ...
$11924
$59.06
The State Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg Russia
Tobias Receives his Father's Blessing
$2150
$48.51
Museum of Fine Arts Houston USA
The Elder Sister
$1762
$65.81
Musee des Beaux Arts Mulhouse France
Flora and Zephyr
$1820
$72.85
Norton Simon Museum of Art Pasadena USA
Portrait of Monsieur M
$1503
$61.63
Private Collection
La Tricoteuse (The Little Knitter)
$1649
$48.07
Private Collection
The Book Hours
$1466
$84.71
Musee des Beaux-Arts de Montreal Quebec Canada
Self Portrait
$1303
$48.07
Collection of Fred and Sherry Ross New Jersey USA
The Ford
$1783
$54.71
Collection of Fred and Sherry Ross New Jersey USA
Portrait of Miss Elizabeth Gardner
$1522
$48.07
Private Collection
Portrait of Miss Brissac
$1630
$96.61
Private Collection
Young Shepherdess
$1670
$65.52
Private Collection
Little Girl Holding Apples in Her Hands
$1541
Private Collection
Virgin and Lamb
$1576
Private Collection
Irene
$1238
$48.07
Private Collection
Portrait of a Young Girl
$1259
Private Collection
A Dream of Spring
$3242
$62.44
Private Collection
Little Brother
$1783
$64.34