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Thread: Berthe Morisot (1841-95) was a French Impressionist painter & arguably, together with Sisley & Pissarro, one of the greatest. She added a revolutionary view of the cloistered world of Bourgeois women, as well as presenting superlative essays on light & colour. 
Born in Bourges to a well to do family & a descendant of the French 18th C master, Fragonard, she moved to Paris (1852). From the 17th C it was a standard part of bourgeois female education in W Europe to learn to paint & draw. Self-Portrait (1885)
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Morisot visited the Louvre to copy as part of her ‘finishing’ & met Corot, Monet & Manet there. Corot introduced her (1860) to painting ‘en plein air’ & to the immediacy of observation & depiction. She continued to train under artists until 1864. Copy of Veronese (1858)
She destroyed much of her youthful work prior to 1869. Corot was her earliest influence & she also experimented with pastels. Farm (1859), Old Path at Auvers (1863), Copy after Corot (1863) & Study (1864). She learnt to understand atmosphere from Corot.
Morisot’s family figured large in her work - she documented her own experiences which gave her work authenticity. The Artist’s Sister (1864), Thatched Cottage in Normandy (1865) & Mother & Sister of the Artist (1869-70) & the Artist’s Sister (1870)
Morisot’s oeuvre is superlative in that she employs Impressionism to her domestic life with true veracity. The private world of women is her theme. The Sisters (1869), The Pink Dress (c1870), On the Sofa (1871) & Woman & Child in a Meadow (1871)
In the early 1870s Morisot explored the use of watercolours. Watercolour allowed her to complete studies quickly & with chromatic vivacity. Young Woman (1871), On the Balcony (1872), The Artist’s Sister & Niece (1872) & The Cradle (1872)
As she matured as an artist her work became more & more translucent. This was a function of her white ground & her thin use of paint to allow the ground to show through. Hide & Seek (1873), Marguerite Carre (1873), Young Girl with Parrot (c1873) & Chasing Butterflies (1874)
Critics have sought to categorise her work into periods. A woman of Morisot’s genius does not fit into boxes, however, so such straitjackets are best avoided. Aboard a Yacht (1875), Eugène Manet on the Isle of Wight (1875), Dahlias (c1876) & Still Life (1876)
Morisot’s philosophy was to paint light & dissolve colour into component parts for the eye to mix. Critics have described this as feathery brushstrokes but that is to miss her goal. The Psyche Mirror (1876), Woman with a Fan (1876), Tureen & Apple (1877) & Summer (1878)
Academics dismissed Morisot until recently. They viewed her work as sentimental, thus allowing their own preconceptions to colour their (male) view. Woman in Black (1878), A Summers Day (1879), Women Picking Flowers (1879) & Young Woman Dressed for the Ball (1879)
The artist’s work is great art because of her technical genius, her observation of real life & her ability to share authentic emotion. Julie Manet & her Nurse (1880), The Dining Room of the Rouart Family (1880), The Wet Nurse (1880) & Woman Getting Dressed (c1880)
She was a superb observer & shares with us the perception of an intelligent Bourgeois woman in 19th C France. Here is woman as subject, not object. Young Woman at the Mirror (1880), Young Woman in Mauve (1880), After Luncheon (1881) & Child in a Rose Garden (1881)
Morisot was an equal to her male counterparts & Manet was her brother-in-law. The two, despite being different in style, inspired each other. Manet & his Daughter (1881), Her Sister & Niece in the Garden At Bougival (1881), Landscape of La Creuse (1882), The Beach At Nice (1882)
In her final decades her work dissolved into sparkling light. These are high points of the Impressionist movement. She differs from Cassatt in being more open & experimental. The Port of Nice (1882 & 1882), Beside a Lake (1883) & Manet & his Daughter in the Garden (1883)
Her landscapes are exquisite in her use of brushwork, her colour palette & unorthodox compositions- they shine with her obvious enjoyment of creation. Haymakers at Bougival (1883), Haystack (1883), Little Girl (1883) & the Fable (1883)
She painted into her final years & often depicted children. It is a symptom of her mindset that at the end of life she painted hope. The Quay at Bougival (1883), Copy after Boucher of Venus at the Forge of Vulcan (1883-4), Young Girl with Doll (1883) & Julie & Her Boat (1884)
The immediacy of her approach is apparent in these works. Her goal was to capture the moment & the light before it changed. Little Girl in a Garden (1884), Miss Reynolds (1884), On the Lake (1884) & On the Veranda (1884)
The artist’s approach is a great lesson for creatives everywhere - paint what you know & remember the story; style will follow as curiosity seeks it. Paule Gobillard (1884), Rose Tremière (1884), The Sewing Lesson (1884) & Daffodils (1885)
She was cited as delicate & feminine, but she paints her sitters’ psyches with the precision of a surgeon. If you don’t see further than the paint, it’s probably because you don’t empathise in the 1st place. Getting Up (1885-6), Garden (c1885), Aloes (1889) & On Bench (1889)
Despite the immediacy of her oil paintings they are usually the product of drawings & watercolours outdoors before eager transfer to canvas. The Little Girl from Nice (1889), Orange Picker (1889), Before the Mirror (1890) & the Cherry Picker (1891)
Morisot’s art provides a window into the social changes of Bourgeois women in the 19th C & their evolving gain in autonomy. She died, sadly, before women got the vote. Little Girls At Window (1892), Two Nymphs (1892), Jeanne Pontillon (1893) & On the Balcony (1893)
Her final works are scintillating passages of white light caressed into glowing colour which chart the agency of women. In the Garden (1894), Laerte the Greyhound (1894), Sunset over a Lake (1894) & Portrait of Marcelle (1895). Search out her work!
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