She loves the harshness in his life and the way his works challenge contemporary academic ideas of Art.  For instance, that time when his works were rejected by the Exposition Universelle, how did he respond?  He constructed his own gallery next door to it...The Pavilion Of Realism!  Of course, attendance and sales were disappointing.  The critics derided him and his works, they even guffawed at his arrogance, this hero to the avant-garde!  Still, titles have never given a true idea of things...if it were otherwise, the works would be unnecessary.  

So, what should we call him, then?  Without expanding on the greater or lesser accuracy of a name which nobody, we should hope, can really be expected to understand, he has limited himself to a few words of elucidation in order to cut short the misunderstandings.  Yes, he studied the art of the ancients and the art of the moderns, avoiding any preconceived system and without prejudice.  He does not care to imitate the one than to copy the other...nor, furthermore, does he intend to attain the trivial goal of "art for art's sake."

No! He simply desires to draw forth from both a complete acquaintance with tradition...and the reasoned and independent consciousness of his own individuality.  To know in order to do, that has been his idea. To be in a position to translate the customs, the ideas, the appearance of his time, according to his own estimation... to be not only a painter, but a man as well...in short, to create living Art!  This is his goal!

No wonder, she is in love with the Maestro!