 She then determined to become an artist, and she studied painting in France at the Robert-Fleury studio and at the Académie Julian.The Académie, as one of the few establishments that accepted female students, attracted young women from all over Europe and the United States.Fellow students at the Académie included Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowiczowa and especially Louise Breslau, whom Bashkirtseff viewed as her only real rival.