Morning Awakening
1876
oil on canvas
82 x 100 cm
Kunsthalle, Bremen, Germany
Eva Gonzales (1849-1883) was a French Impressionist painter. Her concepts and techniques were decisively influenced by Edouard Manet, whom she greatly admired. She was the daughter of the novelist Emmanuel Gonzalez, a Frenchman of Spanish descent. She has had little success with art lovers and critics to this day.
She met Manet in 1869, and was to become his student, colleague and model. Like her teacher, Manet, she never exhibited with the Impressionist painters, but she is considered part of the group because of her painting style. She was Manet's only formal student and modeled frequently for several members of the Impressionist school. Until 1872, she was strongly influenced by Manet but later developed her own, more personal style. Her career was cut short when she died in childbirth at the age of thirty-four, six days after the death of her teacher, Manet.
