Most of what we know about Monet in the eighteen-sixties comes from his letters to his artist friend Frédéric Bazille, whom he met in 1863 in Gleyre’s studio. Bazille, the son of a wealthy Montpellier family, was in Paris to start his medical career but studied painting on the side. When the two met, Monet had been painting for four years, while Bazille, one year younger, had been primarily occupied by his medical training, thus Monet was the more dominant artistic figure: as art historian Pitman observed, Bazille “would have been the first to describe himself as a much less accomplished artist” (qtd. Brenneman, 26).
The two were frequent correspondents; but while Bazille kept about half of Monet’s letters, Bazille’s letters to Monet have ceased to exist. Thus we can only guess at Bazille’s responses. Judging from Monet’s correspondence, the younger artist did not seem to fight back against Monet’s demanding letters which became almost violent when Bazille hesitated or was late in providing what Monet had asked (Brenneman, 69). As art historian Kermit Swiler Champa notes, Monet’s letters “undertake (probably quite consciously) to dominate Bazille and to make him operate as a willing second in the ‘cause Monet’” (qtd. Brenneman, 69).
During the early years of their friendship, Monet and Bazille posed for each another, painted side by side, and helped each other with practical matters, such as sending and storing canvases, finding frames and patrons, and planning for exhibitions (Brenneman, 19). In 1864 the two went to Sainte-Adresse, on the coast of Normandy, where they worked together, staying with Monet’s family and painting seascapes. Bazille often 
borrowed from Monet, as artists-in-training copy works of the masters, demonstrating the former’s high regard for the latter’s work (Pitman, 27). A year after the two met Bazille decided to abandon medicine and devote himself entirely to painting (Brenneman, 26). Starting in January 1865, the two shared a studio on rue de Furstenberg in Paris, with two bedrooms allowing them to live there.
Bazille played a large part in Monet’s Déjeuner sur l’herbe project. It was most likely due to Bazille that Monet came into contact with Manet’s work, as the former had been studying Manet earnestly in 1863 and communicated his enthusiasm to Monet (Isaacson, 3). In addition, Bazille was the primary model for Monet’s Déjeuner. After Monet left for Chailly in the summer to paint his Déjeuner, he wrote to Bazille often, pleading with his friend to come pose for him. After months, Bazille finally submitted to the “cause Monet” and in August went to Chailly. Shortly after Bazille arrived in Chailly, Monet injured his leg, producing the opportunity for the two to switch places. Bazille, using his medical knowledge, rigged a water-dripping device over Monet’s leg, and while Monet lay in bed
Bazille painted L’Ambulance improvisée (The Improvised Field Hospital) (1865), perhaps the only finished painting to emerge out of the time spent in Chailly. Monet looks positively sullen; he clearly prefers painting to modeling. Bazille has included his shadow in the painting; a subtle reference to the reversal of painter and model. Before injuring his leg, Monet had just completed his study The Strollers, which looks more instantaneous but is the result of lots of planning and deliberation, whereas L’Ambulance improvisée, the result of a spontaneous event, appears more planned.
Throughout their time together, Bazille often helped Monet financially. Monet was struggling, at odds with his father, but nonetheless confident in himself as a painter. In contrast, Bazille’s relationship with his parents was, as art historian Kermit Swiler Champa described it, “natural” (qtd. Brenneman, 68). He frequently wrote to his parents both to maintain their financial support as well as out of a sense of filial duty. When Monet’s Femmes au Jardin was rejected by the Salon Bazille purchased it for 2,500 francs, to be paid in 50-franc installments, essentially giving Monet an allowance.
Bazille’s life was cut short in 1870 when he was killed in the Franco-Prussian war at the age of 29. Towards the end of Bazille’s life the artists had started to drift in different directions; although both dedicated toplein air painting, Bazille’s interest continued to be held by figures while Monet grew more and more devoted to landscape.
Images:
Bazille, Frédéric. Self Portrait, 1865. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Bazille, Frédéric. Rue de Furstenberg studio, 1865. Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France.
Bazille, Frédéric. L’Ambulance improvisée (The Improvised Field Hospital), 1865. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.