The Wave 1896
William Adolphe Bouguereau
Oil On Canvas

William Adolphe Bouguereau (November 30, 1825 – August 19, 1905) was a French academic painter.

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, according to chairman Fred Ross of the Art Renewal Center – 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.

A Little Coaxing, 1890 William Adolphe Bouguereau Oil On Canvas

Temptation, 1880 William Adolphe Bouguereau Oil On Canvas

Bacchante, 1899 William Adolph Bouguereau Oil On Canvas

Femme de Cervera et Son Enfant William Adolph Bouguereau oil on canvas