Biography

1861-1882
Aristides Bonaventura Joan Maillol was born on 8 December 1861 in Banyuls-sur-Mer, Roussillon. He spends his childhood with two single aunts, Llúcia and Clara Maillol and with his paternal grandfather, Rafael Maillol, who was a skipper. He starts drawing when very young and paints his first work at 14, a seascape depicting the beach of Banyuls with Cap d'Ona in the background.
He is expelled from boarding school at 18 and returns home to his family in Banyuls. A little later he creates a magazine; he is its only writer, illustrator, printer and consumer. The magazine is firstly called La Figue, but the name subsequently changes to Le Journal d’un ennuyé. There is only one example of this magazine.
He draws in the museum of Perpignan, decides to be a painter and pleads to his aunt Llúcia to give her consent. After her approval, he goes to Paris where he does the entrance examinations for the École des Beaux-Arts several times. He does not pass due to "inability". Maillol explains how he followed the classes at the École des Beaux-Arts without being a student there using some trickery in the film Aristide Maillol, sculpteur (1943) by Jean Lods and Claude Roy.

1883-1892
Maillol requests a grant from the General Board of the Eastern Pyrenees, which he is awarded. He is finally allowed to enter the École des Beaux-Arts on 17 March 1885 after many attempts. He studies painting and sculpture. He is taught by Jean-Paul Laurens, Gérôme and Cabanel above all. He becomes ill due to not eating adequately when studying in Paris, a hard time for him, and he is hospitalised several times. He meets Bourdelle, just as poor as he is, and they become friends.

The Fountain, 1896
Relief in wood, 43 x 23 x 19 cm
Fondation Dina Vierny-Musée Maillol, Paris