Berthe Morisot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Berthe Morisot

douard Manet, Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets, 1872

Born

Berthe Morisot
January 14, 1841
Bourges, Cher, France

Died

March 2, 1895 (aged 54)

Paris, France

Nationality

French

Known for

Painting

Movement

Impressionism

Berthe Morisot (French: [mizo]; January 14, 1841 March 2, 1895) was a painter and a member of
the circle of painters in Pariswho became known as the Impressionists. She was described
by Gustave Geffroy in 1894 as one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism alongside Marie
Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt.[1]

In 1864, she exhibited for the first time in the highly esteemed Salon de Paris. Sponsored by the
government, and judged byAcademicians, the Salon was the official, annual exhibition of
the Acadmie des beaux-arts in Paris. Her work was selected for exhibition in six subsequent
Salons[2] until, in 1874, she joined the "rejected" Impressionists in the first of their own exhibitions,
which included Paul Czanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste
Renoir, and Alfred Sisley. It was held at thestudio of the photographer Nadar.
She became the sister-in-law of her friend and colleague, douard Manet, when she married his
brother, Eugne.
Contents
[hide]

1 Education
2 Manet and impressionism
3 Subjects
4 Death
5 In popular culture
6 Art market
7 Gallery
8 See also
9 References
10 Sources
11 External links

Education[edit]

Berthe Morisot, The Cradle, 1872, Muse d'Orsay

Morisot was born in Bourges, Cher, France, into a successful bourgeois family. According to family
tradition, the family had included one of the most prolific Rococo painters of the ancien
rgime, Fragonard,[3] whose handling of color and expressive, confident brushwork influenced later
painters. Both Berthe and her sister, Edma Morisot, chose to become painters.[4]

Berthe Morisot's family moved to Paris when she was a child. Once Berthe settled on pursuing art,
her family did not impede her career. She registered as a copyist at the Louvre. By age twenty, she
had met and befriended the important, and pivotal, landscape painter of the Barbizon
School, Camille Corot, who excelled in figure painting as well. The older artist instructed Berthe and
her sister in painting and introduced them to other artists and teachers. Under Corot's influence,
Morisot took up the plein air method of working.
As was common for daughters of bourgeois families, growing up Berthe Morisot was given art
lessons alongside her sisters Yves and Edma. These lessons were originally taught by GeoffreyAlphonse Chocarne, followed by Joseph Guichard. Guichard introduced Berthe and Edma to the
Louvre in 1857 to learn by looking and from 1858 onwards they learned by copying paintings. He
also introduced the two Morisot daughters to the works of Gavarni. In 1860, Berthe Morisot wished
to paint outdoors and they were passed on as students to Guichards friend Camille Corot. Corot
then passed them on to Achille Franois Oudinot, another Barbizon painter, in 1863. For some time
in the winter of 1863-64 Berthe studied sculpture under Aim Millet. However, no sculpture by
Morisot survives and she soon returned to painting.[5]

Manet and impressionism[edit]

Berthe Morisot, Grain field, Muse d'Orsay.

Morisot's first appearance in the Salon de Paris came at the age of twenty-three in 1864, with the
acceptance of two landscapepaintings. She continued to show regularly in the Salon, to generally
favorable reviews, until 1873, the year before the first Impressionist exhibition. Morisot exhibited with
the Impressionists from 1874 onwards, only missing the exhibition in 1878 when her daughter was
born.[6]
Meanwhile, in 1868 Morisot became acquainted with douard Manet. He took a special interest in
Morisot, as is evident from his warm portrayal of her in several paintings, including a striking portrait
study of Morisot in a black veil, while in mourning for her father's death (displayed at the top of the
article). Correspondence between them bespeaks affection. He once gave her an easel as a
Christmas present. He also interfered in one of her Salon submissions when he was engaged to
transport it. Manet mistook one of Morisot's self-criticisms as an invitation to add his corrections,
which he did, much to Morisot's dismay.
Although traditionally Manet has been related as the master and Morisot as the follower, there is
evidence that their relationship was a reciprocating one.[7] Morisot had developed her own distinctive
artistic style. Records of paintings show Manet's appreciation of certain stylistic and compositional
decisions that Morisot originated. He incorporated some of these characteristics into his own work.
It was Morisot who persuaded Manet to attempt plein air painting, which she had been practicing
since having been introduced to it by Corot.[8]
She also drew Manet into the circle of painters who soon became known as the Impressionists. In
1874, Morisot married Manet's brother, Eugene, and they had one daughter, Julie. Julie

Manet became the subject for many of her mother's paintings and a book of her memoirs Growing
Up with the Impressionists: The Diary of Julie Manet, was published in 1987.

Subjects[edit]
Morisot painted what she experienced on a daily basis. Her paintings reflect the 19th-century cultural
restrictions of her class and gender. She avoided urban and street scenes as well as the nude figure
and, like her fellow female Impressionist Mary Cassatt, focused on domestic life and portraits in
which she could use family and personal friends as models. 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, portraits, garden settings and boating scenes.

Death[edit]
Berthe Morisot died on March 2, 1895, in Paris, of pneumonia contracted while attending to her
daughter Julie's similar illness. She was interred in the Cimetire de Passy.

In popular culture[edit]
She was portrayed by actress Marine Delterme in the eponymous 2012 French biographical TV
film directed by Caroline Champetier.

Art market[edit]
At a Christie's auction in February 2013, After Lunch (1881), a portrait of a young redhead in a straw
hat and purple dress,[9] sold for $10.9 million, roughly three times its high estimate.[10] The painting set
a record at the time as the most expensive work ever sold by a female artist at auction at the
time,[11][12] topping an earlier record set with $10.7 million having been paid for a sculpture by Louise
Bourgeois in 2012.[13]

Gallery[edit]

The Harbor at Lorient, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC1869

On the Balcony, New York 1872

Reading, Cleveland Museum of Art 1873

Hanging the Laundry out to Dry,National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1875

Lady at her Toilette, The Art Institute of Chicago 1875

Eugene Manet on the Isle of Wight, Muse Marmottan Monet1875

The Dining Room, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC c. 1875

Summer Day National Gallery, London 1879

Winter aka Woman with a Muff,Dallas Museum of Arts 1880

Child among the Hollyhocks, 1881, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne]]

The Bath (Girl Arranging Her Hair), Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown,
Massachusetts 1885-86

Julie Manet et son Lvrier Laerte,Muse Marmottan Monet, Paris1893

See also[edit]

Women artists
Western painting
History of painting
Julie Manet

References[edit]

1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

Jump up^ Geffroy, Gustave (1894), Histoire de l'Impressionnisme, La Vie artistique: 268.
Jump up^ Denvir, 2000, pp. 29-79.
Jump up^ Higonnet, p. 5
Jump up^ As art students, Berthe and Edma worked closely together until Edma married, had
children, and no longer had time to paint so intensely as Berthe. Letters between them show a
loving and cordial relationship, underscored by Berthe's regret at the distance between them and
about Edma's withdrawal from painting. Edma wholeheartedly supported Berthe's continued
work and the families of the two sisters always remained close.
Jump up^ Higonnet, Anne (1990). Berthe Morisot. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers.
pp. 1125.ISBN 0-06-016232-5.
Jump up^ Chadwick, Whitney (2012). Women, Art, and Society (Fifth ed.). London: Thames &
Hudson Inc. p. 253. ISBN 978-0-500-20405-4.
Jump up^ Turner, 2000, p. 319.
Jump up^ "Berthe Morisot (1841-1895)". Paul van Rensburg Gallery of Art.
Jump up^ Kelly Crow and Mary M. Lane (February 6, 2013), Christie's Breaks World Record
Price for Female Artist Wall Street Journal.
Jump up^ Ellen Gamerman and Mary M. Lane (April 18, 2013), Women on the Verge Wall
Street Journal.
Jump up^ Ellen Gamerman and Mary M. Lane (April 18, 2013), Women on the Verge Wall
Street Journal.
Jump up^ Katya Kazakina (May 14, 2014), Billionaires Help Christies to Record $745 Million
SaleBloomberg.
Jump up^ Kelly Crow and Mary M. Lane (February 6, 2013), Christie's Breaks World Record
Price for Female Artist Wall Street Journal.

Sources[edit]
Wikisource has the text of
a 1920 Encyclopedia
Americana article
aboutBerthe Morisot.

Denvir, B. (2000). The Chronicle of Impressionism: An Intimate Diary of the Lives and World of
the Great Artists. London: Thames & Hudson. OCLC 43339405
Higonnet, Anne (1995). Berthe Morisot. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-52020156-6
Turner, J. (2000). From Monet to Czanne: late 19th-century French artists. Grove Art. New
York: St Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-22971-2
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. ISBN 0-7509-2339-3

External links[edit]
External video
Morisot's The Mother and Sister of the

Artist, (3:35)

Video Postcard: Woman at Her Toilette

(1875/80) on YouTube, (1:58)Art Institute of
Chicago

Quotations related to Berthe Morisot at Wikiquote

Media related to Berthe Morisot at Wikimedia Commons
Berthe Morisot at the WebMuseum
Biography of Berthe Morisot
Works by or about Berthe Morisot in libraries (WorldCat catalog)