November 24 1858 years
Was born Maria Bashkirtseva. "The Muse of Decadence", to whom she dedicated her poems Tsvetaeva. The artist who had an "epistolary affair" with Maupassant. The author of a diary that caused a storm of criticism and admiration at the end of the 19th century.
Why lie and show off! My desire, though not my hope, is to remain on earth at all costs. If I don't die young, I hope to be remembered as a great artist, but if I die young, I would like to publish my diary, which is bound to be interesting.
She was born into a noble family in Poltava province. The parents' marriage was not a happy one - two years after the wedding, the mother took the children and went to her parents in Akhtyrka.
Some time later, Masha's mother's younger sister married a wealthy man (rumor had it he actually wanted to marry Masha's mother). The newlyweds went abroad, taking their relatives with them. Musa, as Masha's family called her, was 12. In Europe, the girl, who considered herself gifted with beauty and talent, began keeping a diary.
I am thirteen years old; if I waste time, what will become of me!
If I were a queen, the people would adore me.
Musya really did have abilities - she spoke several languages, sang well, having a mezzo-soprano, and drew excellently.
At 16, Musya was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Her singing career was put on hold. She realized life would be short and she had to make the most of it.
[my motto] Nothing before me, nothing after me, nothing but me
At 19 she entered the Académie Julian in Paris — the only educational institution at the time where women could study to become artists. She painted for 8-10 hours a day, eating breakfast in the studio to avoid wasting time commuting home. Soon, her paintings were accepted to the Paris Salon.
Since the opening of the Salon, not a single newspaper hasn't mentioned my painting; yes, but that's not all! This morning, Iskra's Parisian review appeared: "Secular Women Artists." This is the highest honor!
The press praised the paintings, but they received no awards. Nevertheless, Bashkirtseva became the first Russian artist whose paintings were acquired by the Louvre.
If I were born a man, I would conquer all of Europe
She became fascinated with feminist ideas and wrote articles on the topic under a pseudonym. At 23, she began to go deaf.
Consumptive—the word has been spoken, and it's true <> I'm completely ill. I'm sticking a huge beauty mark on my chest. After this, doubt my courage and my will to live!
She had two years left to live. Six months before her death, she entered into an anonymous correspondence with Guy de Maupassant.
I've been meaning to write to you for a year now, but... I've repeatedly thought that I'm glorifying you too much, and therefore it's not worth the effort to pick up the pen. But then two days ago I read in the newspaper that someone had honored you with a sweet letter <> Jealousy immediately rose up in me.
The epistolary dialogue, spanning a dozen letters—ironic, sometimes cheeky—ended with the writer ready to arrange a personal meeting with his respondent. Later, visiting Bashkirtseva's grave, he said:
This was the only Rose in my life whose path I would strew with roses, knowing that it would be so bright and so short!
Bashkirtseva left her last entry in her diary, which spanned 105 notebooks over 13 years, on October 20, 1884: "It's too hard to climb the stairs." She died 11 days later.
In 1887, the family published her diary, after first removing "inconvenient" passages. Her mother even lowered her daughter's age by two years to make her fate seem even more tragic.
The diary genre was just beginning—the emotional revelations of a talented, ambitious, and doomed girl were a hit with the public. Someone, like Czechs и Tolstoy, the diary was criticized by someone, like Bryusov и Khlebnikov, admired him. Tsvetaeva dedicated her first collection of poetry, “Evening Album,” to Bashkirtseva in the form of a diary:
God gave her too much
And too little - let go
Oh, her starry road!
There was only enough strength for canvases
Bashkirtseva's diary was published without cuts only at the end of the 20th century.
Most of the 150 paintings and nearly 200 drawings were lost during World War II. One of the finest works, "The Meeting," is housed in the Musée d'Orsay.