Journal de Marie Bashkirtseff, avec un portrait

The Journal de Marie Bashkirtseff, avec un portrait is an autobiography written by Marie Bashkirtseff. Bashkirtseff, born in Ukraine in 1858, was a Russian émigré who lived in Paris and became known for her candid diary entries, which were published posthumously in 1887.1

While her diary is her most famous work, Bashkirtseff was also a talented visual artist. She pursued art seriously from 1876, studying at the Académie Julian and the Robert-Fleury studio in Paris. Her paintings, including Young Woman Reading “The Question of Divorce” and A Meeting, were exhibited at the Salon. She created approximately 230 works between 1877 and 1884, the year she died of tuberculosis at the age of 25.1

Her diary offers a detailed account of her artistic and emotional development, providing a modern psychological self-portrait of a young, gifted individual. The full manuscript of her diary was later published, revealing more of her personal narrative.1