Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly esteemed

Salon de Paris The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

. Sponsored by the government and judged by

Academician An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. In syst ...

s, the Salon was the official, annual exhibition of the

Académie des beaux-arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

in Paris. Her work was selected for exhibition in six subsequent Salons until, in 1874, she joined the ''"rejected"'' Impressionists in the first of their own exhibitions, which included

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

, Edgar Degas,

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. Durin ...

, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and

Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedicatio ...

. It was held at the studio of the photographer Nadar. Morisot went on to participate in all but one of the following eight impressionist exhibitions, between 1874 and 1886. Morisot was married to

Eugène Manet Eugène Manet (21 November 1833 – 13 April 1892) was a French painter. He did not achieve the high reputation of his older brother Édouard Manet or his wife Berthe Morisot, and devoted much of his efforts to supporting his wife's career. Man ...

, the brother of her friend and colleague

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Bo ...

. She was described by art critic

Gustave Geffroy Gustave Geffroy (1 June 1855 – 4 April 1926) was a French journalist, art critic, historian and novelist. He was one of the ten founding members of the literary organisation Académie Goncourt in 1900. Geffroy is noted as one of the first histo ...

in 1894 as one of "les trois grandes dames" (The three great ladies) of Impressionism alongside

Marie Bracquemond Marie Bracquemond (1 December 1840 – 17 January 1916) was a French Impressionist artist. She was one of four notable women in the Impressionist movement, along with Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), Berthe Morisot (1841-1895), and Eva Gonzales (1847- ...

and

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...

Early life

Morisot was born January 14, 1841, in Bourges, France, into an affluent bourgeois family. Her father, Edmé Tiburce Morisot, was the

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

(senior administrator) of the department of Cher. He also studied architecture at

École des Beaux Arts École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

. Her mother, Marie-Joséphine-Cornélie Thomas, was the great-niece of

Jean-Honoré Fragonard Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732 (birth/baptism certificate) – 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific art ...

, one of the most prolific

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

painters of the

ancien régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for ...

. She had two older sisters, Yves (1838–1893) and Edma (1839–1921), plus a younger brother, Tiburce, born in 1848. The family moved to Paris in 1852, when Morisot was a child. It was commonplace for daughters of bourgeois families to receive art education, so Berthe and her sisters Yves and Edma were taught privately by Geoffroy-Alphonse Chocarne and

Joseph Guichard Joseph Benoît Guichard (14 November 1806, Lyon - 31 May 1880, Lyon) was a French painter and art teacher who worked in a variety of styles. Biography His parents were the owners of a wallpaper shop. Around 1818, he began to study drawing at ...

. Morisot and her sisters initially started taking lessons so that they could each make a drawing for their father for his birthday. In 1857 Guichard, who ran a school for girls in Rue des Moulins, introduced Berthe and Edma to the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

gallery where from 1858 they learned by copying paintings. The Morisots were not only forbidden to work at the museum unchaperoned, but they were also totally barred from formal training.Harmon, Melissa Burdick. "Monet, Renoir, Degas...Morisot the Forgotten Genius of Impressionism." ''Biography'', vol. 5, no. 6, June 2001, p. 98. EBSCO''host'' Guichard also introduced them to the works of Gavarni. As art students, Berthe and Edma worked closely together until 1869, when Edma married Adolphe Pontillon, a naval officer, moved to Cherbourg, and had less time to paint. Letters between the sisters show a loving relationship, underscored by Berthe's regret at the distance between them and Edma's withdrawal from painting. Edma wholeheartedly supported Berthe's continued work and their families always remained close. Edma wrote ''"… I am often with you in thought, dear Berthe. I’m in your studio and I like to slip away, if only for a quarter of an hour, to breathe that atmosphere that we shared for many years…"''. Her sister Yves married Theodore Gobillard, a tax inspector, in 1866 and was painted by Edgar Degas as ''Mrs Theodore Gobillard'' (

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York City). As a copyist at the Louvre, Morisot met and befriended other artists such as Manet and Monet. In 1861 she was introduced to Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, the pivotal landscape painter of the

Barbizon school The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name ...

who also excelled in figure painting. Under Corot's influence, she took up the

plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

(outdoors) method of working. By 1863 she was studying under , another Barbizon painter. In the winter of 1863–64 she studied sculpture under Aimé Millet, but none of her sculptures is known to survive.

Main periods of Morisot's work

Training, 1857–1870

It is hard to trace the stages of Morisot's training and to tell the exact influence of her teachers because she was never pleased with her work and she destroyed nearly all of the artworks she produced before 1869. Her first teacher, Geoffroy-Alphonse Chocarne, taught her the basics of drawing. After several months, Morisot began to take classes taught by Guichard. During this period, she drew mostly ancient classical figures. When Morisot expressed her interests in

plein-air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

painting, Guichard sent her to follow Corot and Oudinot. Painting outdoors, she used watercolors which are easy to carry. At that time, Morisot also became interested in pastel.

Watercolorist, 1870–1874

During this period, Morisot still found oil painting difficult, and worked mostly in watercolor. Her choice of colors is rather restrained; however, the delicate repetition of hues renders a balanced effect. Due to specific characteristics of watercolors as a medium, Morisot was able to create a translucent atmosphere and feathery touch, which contribute to the freshness in her paintings.

Impressionism, 1875–1885

Having become more confident about oil painting, Morisot worked in oil, watercolor and pastel at the same time, as Degas did. She painted very quickly but did much sketching as preparation, so she could paint "a mouth, eyes, and a nose with a single brushstroke." She made countless studies of her subjects, which were drawn from her life so she became quite familiar with them. When it became inconvenient to paint outdoors, the highly finished watercolors done in the preparatory stages allowed her to continue painting indoors later.

Turning, 1885–1887

After 1885, drawing began to dominate in Morisot's works. Morisot actively experimented with charcoals and color pencils. Her reviving interest in drawing was motivated by her Impressionist friends, who are known for blurring forms. Morisot put her emphasis on the clarification of the form and lines during this period. In addition, she was influenced by photography and

Japonism ''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858. Japo ...

e. She adopted the style of placing objects away from the center of the composition from Japanese prints of the time.

Synthesis, 1887–1895

Morisot started to use the technique of squaring and the medium of tracing paper to transcribe her drawing to the canvas exactly. By employing this new method, Morisot was able to create compositions with more complicated interaction between figures. She stressed the composition and the forms while her Impressionist brushstrokes still remained. Her original synthesis of the Impressionist touch with broad strokes and light reflections, and the graphic approach featured by clear lines, made her late works distinctive.

Style and technique

Because she was a female artist, Morisot's paintings were often labeled as being full of "feminine charm" by male critics, for their elegance and lightness. In 1890, Morisot wrote in a notebook about her struggles to be taken seriously as an artist: "I don't think there has ever been a man who treated a woman as an equal and that's all I would have asked for, for I know I'm worth as much as they." Her light brushstrokes often led to critics using the verb "effleurer" (to touch lightly, brush against) to describe her technique. In her early life, Morisot painted in the open air as other Impressionists to look for truths in observation. Around 1880 she began painting on unprimed canvases—a technique Manet and Eva Gonzalès also experimented with at the time—and her brushwork became looser. In 1888–89, her brushstrokes transitioned from short, rapid strokes to long, sinuous ones that define form. The outer edges of her paintings were often left unfinished, allowing the canvas to show through and increasing the sense of spontaneity. After 1885, she worked mostly from preliminary drawings before beginning her oil paintings. She also worked in oil paint, watercolors, and pastel simultaneously, and sketched using various drawing media. Morisot's works are almost always small in scale. Morisot creates a sense of space and depth through the use of color. Although her color palette was somewhat limited, her fellow impressionists regarded her as a "virtuoso colorist". She typically made expansive use of white to create a sense of transparency, whether used as a pure white or mixed with other colors. In her large painting, ''The Cherry Tree'', colors are more vivid but are still used to emphasize form. Inspired by Manet's drawings, she kept the use of color to the minimum when constructing a motif. Responding to the experiments conducted by Manet and Edgar Degas, Morisot used barely tinted whites to harmonize the paintings. Like Degas, she played with three media simultaneously in one painting: watercolor, pastel, and oil paints. In the second half of her career, she learned from

Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...

by mimicking his motifs. She also shared an interest in keeping a balance between the density of figures and the atmospheric traits of light with Renoir in her later works.

Subjects

Jeune Fille au Manteau Vert by Berthe Morisot

Morisot painted what she experienced on a daily basis. Most of her paintings include domestic scenes of family, children, ladies, and flowers, depicting what women's life was like in the late nineteenth century. Instead of portraying the public space and the society, Morisot preferred private, intimate scenes. It somehow reflects the cultural restrictions of her class and gender at that time. Like her fellow Impressionist

, she focused on domestic life and portraits in which she could use family and personal friends as models, including her daughter Julie and sister Edma. The stenographic presentation of her daily life conveys a strong hope to stop the fleeting passage of time. By portraying flowers, she used metaphors to celebrate womanhood. Prior to the 1860s, Morisot painted subjects in line with the Barbizon school before turning to scenes of contemporary femininity. Paintings like ''The Cradle'' (1872), in which she depicted current trends for nursery furniture, reflect her sensitivity to fashion and advertising, both of which would have been apparent to her female audience. Her works also include landscapes, garden settings, boating scenes, and theme of boredom or

ennui In conventional usage, boredom, ennui, or tedium is an emotional and occasionally psychological state experienced when an individual is left without anything in particular to do, is listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occup ...

. Later in her career Morisot worked with more ambitious themes, such as nudes. In her late works, she often referred to the past to recall the memory of her earlier life and youth, and her departed companions.

Impressionism

Morisot's first appearance in the

came at the age of twenty-three in 1864, with the acceptance of two landscape paintings. She continued to show regularly in the Salon, to generally favorable reviews, until 1873, the year before the first Impressionist exhibition. She exhibited with the Impressionists from 1874 onwards, only missing the exhibition in 1878 when her daughter was born. Impressionism's alleged attachment to brilliant color, sensual surface effects, and fleeting sensory perceptions led a number of critics to assert in retrospect that this style, once primarily the battlefield of insouciant, combative males, was inherently feminine and best suited to women's weaker temperaments, lesser intellectual capabilities, and greater sensibility. During Morisot's 1874 exhibition with the Impressionists, such as Monet and Manet, Le Figaro critic Albert Wolff noted that the Impressionists consisted of "five or six lunatics of which one is a woman... hosefeminine grace is maintained amid the outpourings of a delirious mind." Morisot's mature career began in 1872. She found an audience for her work with

Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (31 October 1831, Paris – 5 February 1922, Paris) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste ...

, the private dealer, who bought twenty-two paintings. In 1877, she was described by the critic for ''Le Temps'' as the "one real Impressionist in this group." She chose to exhibit under her full maiden name instead of using a pseudonym or her married name. As her skill and style improved, many began to rethink their opinion toward Morisot. In the 1880 exhibition, many reviews judged Morisot among the best, even including ''Le Figaro'' critic Albert Wolff. Edouard Manet - Berthe Morisot With a Bouquet of Violets - Google Art Project

Edouard Manet - Berthe Morisot With a Bouquet of Violets - Google Art Project

Personal life

Morisot came from an eminent family, the daughter of a government official and the great-niece of Rococo artist

. She met her longtime friend and colleague,

, in 1868. By the introduction of Manet, Morisot was married to Édouard's brother,

in 1874. On November 14, 1878, she gave birth to her only child, Julie, who posed frequently for her mother and other Impressionist artists, including

and her uncle Édouard. Correspondence between Morisot and Édouard Manet shows warm affection, and Manet gave her an easel as a Christmas present. Morisot often posed for Manet and there are several portrait paintings of Morisot such as '' Repose (Portrait of Berthe Morisot)'' and '' Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet''. Morisot died on March 2, 1895, in Paris, of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

contracted while attending to her daughter Julie's similar illness, thus making Julie an orphan at the age of 16. She was interred in the

Cimetière de Passy Passy Cemetery (french: Cimetière de Passy) is a small cemetery in Passy, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. History The current cemetery replaced the old cemetery (''l'ancien cimetière communal de Passy'', located on Rue Lekain), w ...

Works

Selection of works

:''This list is incomplete, you can help by expanding it with certified entries.'' This limited selection is based in part on the book ''Berthe Morisot'' by Charles F. Stuckey, William P. Scott and Susan G. Lindsay, which is in turn drawn from the 1961 catalogue by Marie-Louise Bataille, Rouaart Denis and Georges Wildenstein. There are variations between the dates of execution, first showing and purchase. Titles may vary between sources.

1864–1874

* ''Étude'', 1864, oil on canvas, 60.3 × 73 cm, private collection * ''Chaumière en Normandie'', 1865, oil on canvas, 46 × 55 cm, private collection * ''La Seine en aval du pont d'Iéna'', 1866, oil on canvas, 51 × 73 cm, private collection * ''La Rivière de Pont Aven à Roz-Bras'', 1867, oil on canvas, 55 × 73 cm, private collection – Chicago * ''Bateaux à l'aurore'', 1869, pastel on paper, 19.7 × 26.7 cm, private collection *''Jeune fille à sa fenêtre'', 1869, oil on canvas, 36.8 × 45.4 cm, private collection * ''Madame Morisot et sa fille Madame Pontillon (La Lecture)'', 1869–1870, oil on canvas, 101 × 81.8 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. * ''Le Port de Cherbourg'', 1871, crayon and watercolour on paper, 15.6 × 20.3 cm, private collection of Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia * ''Le Port de Cherbourg'', 1871, oil on canvas, 41.9 × 55.9 cm, private collection of Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia * ''Vue de paris de hauteurs du Trocadéro'', 1871, oil on canvas, 46.1 × 81.5 cm, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California * ''Femme et enfant au balcon'', 1871–72, watercolor, 20.6 × 17.3 cm, Art Institute of Chicago * ''Intérieur'', 1871, oil on canvas, 60 × 73 cm, private collection * ''Portrait de Madame Pontillon'', 1871, pastel on paper, 85.5 × 65.8 cm,

– drawings cabinet gift of Madame Edma Pontillon to the Louvre in 1921, in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay * ''L'Entrée du port'', 1871,The scene ''L'Entrée du port'' is often confused with ''L'Entrée du port de Cherbourg'' purchased in 1874 by Durand-Ruel, or confused with ''Le Port de Cherbourg'' watercolour on paper, 24.9 × 15.1 cm, , Bagnols-sur-Cèze – drawings cabinet * ''Madame Pontillon et sa fille Jeanne sur un canapé'', 1871, watercolour on paper, 25.1 × 25.9 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington * ''Jeune fille sur un banc (Edma Pontillon)'', 1872, oil on canvas, 33 × 41 cm, * ''Cache-cache'', 1872, oil on canvas, 33 × 41 cm, Private collection * ''Le Berceau'', 1872, oil on canvas, 56 × 46 cm Musée d'Orsay, Paris * ''La Lecture (Edma lisant)'', also titled ''L'Ombrelle verte'', 1873, oil on canvas, 45.1 × 72.4 cm,

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

* ''Sur la plage des Petites-Dalles'', 1873, oil on canvas, 24.1 × 50.2 cm,

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the s ...

, Richmond, Virginia * ''Madame Boursier et sa fille'', 1873, oil on canvas, 74 × 52 cm, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts * ''Le Village de Maurecourt'', 1873, pastel on paper, 47 × 71.8 cm, private collection * ''Coin de Paris vu de Passy'', 1873, pastel on paper, 27 × 34.9 cm, private collection * ''Sur la terrasse'', 1874, oil on canvas, 45 × 54 cm,

Musée du Petit Palais The Petit Palais (; en, Small Palace) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle ("universal exhibition"), it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (''Musée des beaux-arts ...

, Paris * ''Portrait de Madame Hubbard'', 1874, oil on canvas, 50.5 × 81 cm,

Ordrupgaard Ordrupgaard is a state-owned art museum situated near Jægersborg Dyrehave, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The museum houses one of Northern Europe's most considerable collections of Danish and French art from the 19th and beginning of the 20th ce ...

museum de

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

* ''Femme et enfant au bord de la mer '', 1874, watercolor on paper, 16 × 21.3 cm, private collection

1875–1884

* ''Percher de blanchisseuses '', 1875, Oil on canvas 33 × 40.8 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. * ''Jeune fille au miroir'', 1875, oil on canvas, 54 × 45 cm, private collection * ''Scène de port dans l'île de Wight'', 1875, oil on canvas, 48 × 36 cm private collection * ''Scène de port dans l'île de Wight'', 1875, oil on canvas, 43 × 64 cm,

Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art (formerly known as the Newark Museum), in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, A ...

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

, New Jersey * ''Eugène Manet à l'île de Wight'', 1875, oil on canvas, 38 × 46 cm private collection * ''Avant d'un yacht'', 1875, watercolour on paper, 20.6 × 26.7 cm,

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European and American paintings, sculp ...

Williamstown, Massachusetts Williamstown is a town in the northern part of Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, United States. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolit ...

* ''Femme à sa toilette'', 1875, oil on canvas, 46 × 38 cm private collection * '' Femme à sa toilette '', 1875–1880, hst, dim; 60.3 × 80.4 cm, Coll. Art Institute of Chicago * ''Portrait de femme (Avant le théâtre)'', 1875, oil on canvas, 57 × 31 cm, Galerie Schröder & Leisewitz, Bremen * ''Jeune femme au bal'' encore intitulé ''Jeune femme en toilette de bal'', 1876, oil on canvas, 86 × 53 cm Musée d'Orsay * ''Au Bal'' ou ''Jeune fille au bal'', 1875, oil on canvas, 62 × 52 cm, Musée Marmottan-Monet, Paris *''Jeune Femme arrosant un arbuste,'' 1876, oil on canvas, 40.01 × 31.75 cm,

, Richmond, Virginia * ''Le Corsage noir '', 1876, oil on canvas, 73 × 59.8 cm

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland ( ga, Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on ...

, Dublin * ''Le Psyché'', 1876, oil on canvas, 65 × 54 cm,

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (in Spanish, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (), named after its founder), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. I ...

, Madrid * ''Rêveuse'', 1877, pastel on canvas, 50.2 × 61 cm,

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art. In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...

, Kansas City, Missouri * ''L'Été'', encore intitulé ''Jeune femme près d'une fenêtre'' 1878, oil on canvas, 76 × 61 cm,

Musée Fabre The Musée Fabre is a museum in the southern French city of Montpellier, capital of the Hérault ''département''. The museum was founded by François-Xavier Fabre, a Montpellier painter, in 1825. Beginning in 2003, the museum underwent a 61.2 mi ...

, Montpellier * ''Jeune feme assise'', 1878–1879, oil on canvas, 80 × 100 cm, private collection New York City * ''Jeune fille de dos à sa toilette'', encore intitulé ''Femme à sa toilette'' 1879, oil on canvas, 60.3 × 80.4 cm Art Institute of Chicago * ''Le Lac du Bois de Boulogne (Jour d'été)'', 1879, 45.7 × 75.3 cm,

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

, London * ''Dans le jardin (Dames cueillant des fleurs)'', 1879, oil on canvas, 61 × 73.5 cm, Nationalmuseum Stockholm * ''Jeune femme en toilette de bal (Young Woman in Evening Dress)'', 1879, oil on canvas, 71 x 54 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris * ''Hiver'', 1880, oil on canvas, 73.5 × 58.5 cm,

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Art ...

* ''Deux filles assises près d'une table'', 1880, crayon and watercolour on paper 19,6 × 26.6 cm private collection Germany * ''Bateaux sur la Seine''. c. 1880, 25.5cm x 50cm. Provenance: acquired from the artist's family by the first owner, sold with a letter of authenticity from Daniel Wildenstein at Sotheby's, 1984. * ''Plage à Nice'' 1881–1882, watercolour on paper 42 × 55 cm, Nationalmuseum Stockholm * ''Le Port de Nice'', 1881–1882, oil on canvas, 53 × 43 cm private collection * ''Le Port de Nice'', 1881–1882, oil on canvas, 41 × 55 cm private collection * ''Le Port de Nice'' 1881 (?)third version format 38 × 46 cm conserved at

* ''Le Thé'', 1882, oil on canvas, 57.5 × 71.5 cm, Fondation Madelon

Vaduz Vaduz ( or , High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' Hrsg. ...

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...

* ''Le Port de Nice'', 1881–1882, oil on canvas, 53 × 43 cm private collection * ''La Fable'', 1883, oil on canvas, 65 × 81 cm private collection * ''Le Jardin (Femmes dans le jardin)'' (1882–1883) oil on canvas, 99.1 × 127 cm,

Sara Lee Corporation The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. It had operations in more than 40 countries and sold its products in over 180 countries. Its international operations were headquartered in Utrec ...

, Chicago * ''Eugène Manet et sa fille au jardin'' 1883, oil on canvas, 60 × 73, private collection * ''Dans le jardin à Maurecourt'', 1883, oil on canvas, 54 × 65 cm,

Toledo Museum of Art The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...

* ''Le Quai de Bougival'', 1883, oil on canvas, 55.5 × 46 cm, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo * ''Julie et son bateau (Enfant jouant)'', 1883, watercolour on paper, 25 × 16 cm, private collection * ''La Meule de foin'' 1883, oil on canvas, 55.3 × 45.7 cm, private collection, New York * ''Dans la véranda'', 1884, oil on canvas, 81 × 10 cm, private collection * ''Julie avec sa poupée'', 1884, oil on canvas, 82 × 10 cm, private collection * ''Petite fille avec sa poupée (Julie Manet)'', 1884, pastel on paper, 60 × 46 cm, private collection * ''Sur le lac'', 1884, oil on canvas, 65 × 54 cm, private collection * ''The Artist's Daughter, Julie, with her Nanny'', c. 1884, oil on canvas,

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

1885–1894

* ''Autoportrait'', 1885, pastel on paper, 47.5 × 37.5 cm, Art Institute of Chicago * ''Autoportrait avec Julie'', 1885, oil on canvas, 72 × 91 cm, private collection * ''Jeune femme assise au Bois de Boulogne'', 1885, watercolour on paper, 19 × 28 cm,

, New York City * ''La Forêt de Compiègne'', 1885, oil on canvas, 54.2 × 64.8 cm, Art Institute of Chicago * ''Le Bain (Jeune file se coiffant)'', 1885–1886, oil on canvas, 81.1 × 72.3 cm, Art Institute of Chicago * ''Dans la salle à manger'', 1885–1886, oil on canvas, 61.3 × 50 cm, National Gallery of Art * ''Le Lever'', 1886, oil on canvas, 65 × 54 cm, collection Durand-Ruel * ''Intérieur à Jersey (Intérieur de cottage)'', 1886, oil on canvas, 50 × 60 cm, Musée communal des beaux-arts d'Ixelles * ''Femme s'essuyant'', 1886–1887, pastel on paper, 42 × 41 cm, Non localisé * ''Julie avec un chat'', 1887,

drypoint Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (or "matrix") with a hard-pointed "needle" of sharp metal or diamond point. In principle, the method is practically identical to engraving. The ...

, 14.5 × 11.3 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington * ''Nu de dos'', 1887, charcoal on paper, 57 × 43 cm, private collection * ''Éventail en médaillon'', 1887, watercolour on silk fan, private collection * ''Portrait de Paule Gobillard'', 1887, coloured pencil on paper, 27.9 × 22.9 cm,

Reader's Digest Association Trusted Media Brands, Inc. (TMBI), formerly known as the Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (RDA), is an American multi-platform media and publishing company that is co-headquartered in New York City and White Plains, New York. The company was ...

, New York * ''Le Lac du Bois de Boulogne'', 1887, watercolour on paper, 29.5 × 22.2 cm,

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

, Washington * ''Fillette lisant (La lecture)'', 1888, oil on canvas, 74.3 × 92.7 cm,

Museum of Fine Arts (St. Petersburg, Florida) History The MFA was founded by art collector and philanthropist Margaret Acheson Stuart (1896–1980). The Margaret Acheson Stuart Society, the Museum's independent support organization, is named in her honor. The city provided the four-a ...

* ''Berthe Morisot and Julie Manet'', c.1888–1890, drypoint, 18.42 x 13.49 cm, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis * ''La Cueillette des oranges'', 1889, pastel, 61 × 46 cm, Musée d'art et d'histoire de Provence,

Grasse Grasse (; Provençal oc, Grassa in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional it, Grassa) is the only subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region on the French Riviera. In 2017, the c ...

*''Sous l'oranger (Julie)'', 1889, oil on canvas, 54 × 65 cm, private collection *''L'Île du Bois de Boulogne'', 1889, oil on canvas, 68.4 × 54.6 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington *''Le Flageolet (Julie Manet et Jeanne Gobillard)'', 1891, oil on canvas, 56 × 87 cm, private collection *''Le Cerisier 1891'', 1891, oil on canvas, 138 × 88.9 cm, private collection, Washington *'' Étude pour Le Cerisier'', 1891, pastel on paper, 45.7 × 48.9 cm, The Reader's Digest Association *''Julie Manet avec son lévrier'', 1893, oil on canvas, 73× 80 cm, Musée Marmottan-Monet, Paris *''Les Enfants de Gabriel Thomas'', 1894, oil on canvas, 100 × 80 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris *''La Coiffure'', 1894, oil on canvas, 100 × 80 cm,

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Buenos Aires) The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes ("National Museum of Fine Arts") is an Argentine art museum in Buenos Aires, located in the Recoleta section of the city. The Museum inaugurated a branch in Neuquén in 2004. The museum hosts works by Goya, Remb ...

*''Jeune fille aux cheveux noirs'', 1894, pencil and watercolour, 23.1 × 16.8 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Gallery

File:Girl on Divan ca. 1885 – Berthe Morisot.jpg, ''Girl on Divan (ca. 1885)'' File:Berthe Morisot, The Sisters, 1869, NGA 42285.jpg, ''The Sisters'', 1869, National Gallery of Art File:The Artist's Sister at a Window A16570.jpg, ''The Artist's Sister at a Window'', 1869, National Gallery of Art File:Berthe Morisot 001.jpg, ''On the Balcony (Femme et enfant au balcon),'' 1872, New York City File:Berthe Morisot Reading.jpg, L'ombrelle verte, ''Reading (portrait of Edma Morisot),'' 1873,

File:Berthe Morisot - Le Berceau.jpg, ''Le Berceau'' (''The Cradle''), 1872, Musée d'Orsay File:1875 Morisot Laundry.jpg, ''Suspendre le linge pour sécher (Hanging the Laundry out to Dry)'', 1875, National Gallery of Art File:Berthe Morisot 002.jpg, ''Eugène Manet on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

'', 1875,

Musée Marmottan Monet Musée Marmottan Monet ( en, Marmottan Museum of Monet) is an art museum in Paris, France, dedicated to artist Claude Monet. The collection features over three hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1 ...

File:Berthe Morisot - Sommertag - 1879.jpeg, ''Jour d'été Summer's Day'', 1879,

, London Alternative title: French: Le Lac du bois de Boulogne The Lake in the Bois de Boulogne File:Berthe Morisot Winter aka Woman with a Muff.jpg, ''Winter aka Woman with a Muff (Hiver)'', 1880, Dallas Museum of Arts File:Berthe Morisot Kind zwischen Stockrosen.jpg, ''Child among the Hollyhocks (Kind zwischen Stockrosen) (Enfant dans les roses trémières)'', 1881, Wallraf-Richartz Museum File:Morisot TheArtistsDaughterJulieWithHerNanny MIA 9640.jpg, ''The Artists' Daughter Julie With Her Nanny'', c.1884,

File:Berthe Morisot The Bath.jpg, ''The Bath (Girl Arranging Her Hair)'', 1885–86,

Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European and American paintings, sculp ...

File:Berthe Morisot 003.jpg, ''In the Dining Room'', 1886 National Gallery of Art File:Before the Mirror by Berthe Morisot.jpg, ''Before the Mirror (1890)'' File:Berthe Morisot - Woman at Her Toilette - 1924.127 - Art Institute of Chicago.jpg, ''Woman at her Toilette'', 1875

The Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and list of largest art museums, largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visit ...

File:Berthe Morisot - The Flute Player.jpg, ''Le Flageolet (The Flute Player) 1890'' File:Berthe Morisot - Girl with Greyhound - 1893.jpg, ''Julie Manet et son Lévrier Laerte'', 1893,

Portraits of Morisot

Image:Édouard Manet - Le Balcon.jpg, Detail from ''

The Balcony ''The Balcony'' (french: Le Balcon) is a play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. It is set in an unnamed city that is experiencing a revolutionary uprising in the streets; most of the action takes place in an upmarket brothel that functions as a ...

'' by

, with the portrait of Berthe in the foreground, 1868 Image:Édouard Manet - Le repos.jpg, Berthe Morisot posing for ''The Rest'', 1870, By

Image:Édouard Manet - Berthe Morisot on a divan.jpg, ''Berthe Morisot on a divan couch'', 1872, by Édouard Manet Image:Berthe Morisot Manet Lille 2918.jpg, Portrait of ''

Berthe Morisot with a Fan ''Berthe Morisot with a Fan'' is a painting by French artist Édouard Manet, executed in 1874. It is the last of the twelve portraits that Manet produced of fellow painter and model Berthe Morisot, between 1868 and 1874, made just after her marr ...

'', 1874 by Édouard Manet Image:Marcellin Desboutin - Portrait Berthe Morisot.jpg, ''Portrait of Berthe Morisot'', 1876, by

Marcellin Desboutin Marcellin Gilbert Desboutin ( Cérilly 26 August 1823 – 18 February 1902 Nice) was a French painter, printmaker, and writer. Desboutin always signed himself ''Baron de Rochefort.'' Biography Desboutin was born in Cérilly, Allier on 26 ...

Image:Manet - Berthe Morisot ruhend.jpg, ''Portrait of Berthe Morisot'', 1882, By Édouard Manet Image:Édouard Manet - Berthe Morisot au soulier rose.jpg, ''Berthe Morisot au soulier rose'', 1872 By

Hiroshima Museum of Art The is an art museum founded in 1978. It is located in the Hiroshima Central Park in Hiroshima, Japan. Collections Gallery 1 *From Romanticism to Impressionism Gallery 2 *Neo-Impressionists and Post-Impressionists Gallery 3 *Fauvism and P ...

Image:Pierre Auguste Renoir - Portrait Berthe Morisot and daughter Julie.jpg, ''Berthe Morisot and her daughter Julie Manet'', 1894, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir Image:Renoir Berthe Morisot.jpg, ''Berthe Morisot'', 1892, by

Art market

Morisot's work sold comparatively well. She achieved the two highest prices at a

Hôtel Drouot Hôtel Drouot is a large auction house in Paris, known for fine art, antiques, and antiquities. It consists of 16 halls hosting 70 independent auction firms, which operate under the umbrella grouping of Drouot. The firm's main location, called D ...

auction in 1875, the ''Interior (Young Woman with Mirror)'' sold for 480 francs, and her pastel ''On the Lawn'' sold for 320 francs. Her works averaged 250 francs, the best relative prices at the auction. In February 2013, Morisot became the highest priced female artist, when ''After Lunch'' (1881), a portrait of a young redhead in a straw hat and purple dress, sold for $10.9 million at a Christie's auction. The painting achieved roughly three times its upper estimate,Kelly Crow and Mary M. Lane (February 6, 2013)
Christie's Breaks World Record Price for Female Artist
''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''.Ellen Gamerman and Mary M. Lane (April 18, 2013)
Women on the Verge
''

''. exceeding the $10.7 million for a sculpture by

Louise Bourgeois Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (; 25 December 191131 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a varie ...

in 2012.

Legacy

She was portrayed by actress

Marine Delterme Marine Delterme (born 18 March 1968) is a French actress, Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor and former Model (person), model. Early and personal life Marine Delterme was born in Toulouse, France, and grew up in Paris. Her father was an eng ...

in a 2012 French biographical TV film directed by Caroline Champetier. The character of Beatrice de Clerval in

Elizabeth Kostova Elizabeth Johnson Kostova (born December 26, 1964) is an American author best known for her debut novel ''The Historian''. Early life Elizabeth Johnson Kostova was born Elizabeth Johnson in New London, Connecticut, and raised in Knoxville, Tenne ...

's ''

The Swan Thieves ''The Swan Thieves'' is a 2010 novel by American author Elizabeth Kostova. The "old painter" described in the book before the first chapter is Alfred Sisley. Beatrice de Clerval is not based on a single real artist, but Kostova was influenced ...

'' is largely based on Morisot. She was featured as the "A First Impressionist" in an article written by Anne Truitt in the ''New York Times'' on June 3, 1990. From Melissa Burdick Harmon, an editor at ''Biography'' magazine, "While some of Morisot's work may seem to us today like sweet depictions of babies in cradles, at the time these images were considered extremely intimate, as objects related to infants belonged exclusively to the world of women." In 2019, the Musée d'Orsay devoted a temporary exhibition to Berthe Morisot to pay tribute to her work.

Exhibition

Notes

References

Sources

* * Denvir, B. (2000). ''The Chronicle of Impressionism: An Intimate Diary of the Lives and World of the Great Artists''. London: Thames & Hudson. * Higonnet, Anne (1995). ''Berthe Morisot''. Berkeley: University of California Press. * Turner, J. (2000). ''From Monet to Cézanne: late 19th-century French artists''. Grove Art. New York: St Martin's Press. * Manet, Julie, Rosalind de Boland Roberts, and Jane Roberts. ''Growing Up with the Impressionists: The Diary of Julie Manet''. London: Sotheby's Publications, 1987 * Shennan, Margaret (1996). ''Berthe Morisot: The First Lady of Impressionism''. Stroud: Sutton Publishing.

External links

* * *
Edma Morisot, 1865, ''Berthe Morisot painting at her easel'' Private collection.

Berthe Morisot
at the

WebMuseum The WebMuseum, formerly known as the WebLouvre, was founded by Nicolas Pioch in France in 1994, while he was a student. It is one of the earliest examples of a virtual museum. The site won the 1994 Best of the Web award for the "Best Use of Mul ...

Biography of Berthe Morisot
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morisot, Berthe 1841 births 1895 deaths Artists from Bourges 19th-century French painters French women painters French Impressionist painters Burials at Passy Cemetery 19th-century French women artists