Eva Gonzalès

As one of just four women involved with the Impressionist movement as painters, Gonzalès offers us a rare glimpse into the world of late-19th-century Paris from the viewpoint of a woman navigating the capital of the art world.

Born into an eclectic and artistic family (her father was writer Emmanuel Gonzalès and her mother, Marie-Céline Ragut, was a musician), she and her sister were well-educated and encouraged to pursue their artistic interests. In 1866 she began her classical training in Charles Chaplin’s women’s studio before receiving lessons from the then controversial Edouard Manet, whose work she greatly admired.

Like many women artists who showed not just a passing interest, but actual artistic talent and strength, her painting, Box at the Théâtre des Italiens (1874), had such “masculine vigor” that Salon jury members did not believe it was her work and so rejected it. Five years later, in 1879, it would be exhibited in the prestigious annual exhibition.

Nevertheless, her work, when not so great that its creator was called into question, was celebrated by the Paris Salon along with conservative and liberal critics, including the likes of Émile Zola, for her technical skill and her ability to balance academic style favoured by the Salon and the modernity of the Impressionists.

Her importance to the changing role of women in art was also recognised during her lifetime, being included in exhibitions such as Exposition Spéciale des Artistes Femmes in 1882 and being championed by the likes of art critic Maria Deraismes for challenging the way women were viewed the art scene in Paris and separated from their male contemporaries.

Following her death, Gonzalès has been largely overshadowed by both her male and female contemporaries and is often remembered for little more than her dark, Spanish features that made her the exotic subject of Manet’s infatuation.