Eva Gonzalès. Parcours d'une artiste libre

The Petit Palais presents a new monograph devoted to the painter Eva Gonzalès (1847-1883), before a stop at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in February 2027. A contemporary of Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot, with whom she is often associated, Eva Gonzalès has nonetheless never been the subject of a major retrospective, either in France or internationally.

This artist of subtle sensibility was the sole pupil of Édouard Manet, with whom she shared an exceptional artistic relationship. Supported by an attentive and cultivated family circle, she managed to assert her singular voice in a century that left little room for women artists.

Bringing together nearly 100 works – paintings, pastels and prints – the exhibition pays tribute to an artist of assured talent, who died prematurely at the age of 36. The chronological route traces her trajectory and invites visitors to discover a determined personality, stepping into the heart of her intimate world.

Born into a cultivated middle-class family, Eva Gonzalès enjoyed from an early age an environment conducive to the flourishing of her artistic vocation. Her father, Emmanuel Gonzalès, a journalist and recognised man of letters, moved at the heart of the Parisian artistic scene, while her mother, Céline Ragut, a musician, hosted a salon frequented by literary and society Paris.

Trained in the studio of Charles Chaplin, the young painter quickly freed herself from it to assert a personal and sensitive style, visible in works such as La Psyché (c. 1869-1870, National Gallery, London), La Fenêtre (c. 1865-1870, Denver Art Museum) or Le Moineau (c. 1865-1870, private collection). Her meeting with Édouard Manet in 1869 marked a decisive turning point in her career: she became his only pupil and one of his models, while pursuing an independent career with determination.

Eva Gonzalès regularly exhibited at the Salon between 1870 and 1883, without joining the Impressionist group. She showed in particular Une loge aux Italiens (1874, musée d'Orsay, Paris) or Le Clairon (1870, musée de Gajac, Villeneuve-sur-Lot), works in which the clear influence of Manet emerges, both in the choice of subjects and in the freedom of the brushwork.

The exhibition highlights a subtle and intimate body of work, attentive to female figures and everyday life.