Into The Blue

Amélie Beary-Saurel

---

AMÉLIE BEAURY-SAUREL, 1894. PASTEL ON CANVAS

A work of straightforward rebellion, Beaury-Saurel’s ‘Into The Blue’ is indicative of her life of fighting. A darling of the 1890 Paris Salon, matriarch of the Académie Julian, Beaury-Saurel’s portrait of a lady was shocking when first debuted. It would be another 40 years until women openly smoking became socially acceptable, and yet here we have our figure nonchalant, exhaling against a background of deep blue. Beaury-Saurel was a ‘femme moderne’, and wanted to depict similar women. She presents her subjects as strong and undaunted. In loose brush strokes she frees them from societal gaze and subjugation to become their own authors. Now faded into obscurity, Beaury-Saurel blazed a path for female painters in France to reclaim their image.