Berthe Morisot "extraordinaire"

She is one of the greatest ladies of Impressionism, alongside Mary Cassatt and Marie Bracquemond. Berthe Morisot (1841–1895), very close to Édouard Manet, of whom she was the model and friend, is distinguished by her preference for the art of portraiture, the theme of childhood and motherhood. It was not easy for a woman to establish herself in the world of modern art. Although criticized and mocked at her beginnings, supported by her husband Eugène Manet, the brother of the painter Edouard Manet, she never gave up painting, and made Julie, her daughter, her favorite model. She said “My ambition is to capture a touch of the ephemeral. "
Her life Born in Bourges, to a prefect father, Berthe Morisot comes from the bourgeoisie. Encouraged to develop her artistic sensibility, she trained in the art of painting just like her sister Edma. Both exhibited at the Salon in 1864. At that time, the School of Fine Arts was closed to women and the young artist will be trained by copying the great masterpieces of the Louvre. There she meets Édouard Manet, an already famous and controversial artist. Berthe also received lessons from Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot. The young artist started as a landscape painter before approaching figurative style, which she tackled in the 1870s. Independent, she frequented a high-level artistic milieu: Edgar Degas, Charles Cros, the Manet couple, Mallarmé… Berthe took advantage of Manet's influence and served him as a model on numerous occasions. Their bond will be consolidated by the marriage of Berthe with Eugène, the brother of Édouard Manet, in 1874. 1874 marked the birth of the Impressionist movement to which Berthe Morisot actively contributed. She is the only female painter in the famous Impressionist exhibition organized at Nadar's that year. The taste for white distinguished the Morisot palette, and its touch was removed in the service of intimate subjects. This is the period of her personal development. However, she must face criticism hostile to all modern painters, accusing them of the emptiness of the subjects, the way of painting, and the rejection of academicism. In 1878, Julie, the couple's only daughter, was born. She becomes her mother's favorite model and learns to paint alongside her. In 1892, her father Eugène died and the poet Mallarmé became the young girl's tutor. For Berthe Morisot, the 1890s were those of pain and illness, although the artist was fully recognized as one of the great figures of the Impressionist avant-garde. She died in 1895.
Her key works Berthe Morisot, Le Berceau , 1872 Oil on canvas • 56 × 46 cm • Coll. Musée d'Orsay, Paris This painting, Morisot's most famous, represents his sister Edma watching over her newborn baby. The shades of white give a feeling of great softness to this intimate and bourgeois scene. Nothing seems to be able to disturb the two characters. The theme of motherhood will subsequently become recurrent in the artist's production. This work was shown at the famous exhibition of the group of impressionists in 1874.
Berthe Morisot, L'Hortensia , 1894 Oil on canvas • 73.5 × 60.5 cm • Coll. Musée d'Orsay, Paris This scene, also known as Two Sisters , once again represents a moment of shared intimacy. We are in a bourgeois universe, the two women are neglected but have taken care of their beauty. One of them pricks a flower in her sister's hair, a white flower that perhaps symbolizes her innocence when she already offers a beautiful open throat. The technique is fully impressionistic, with touches removed, sketched, vividly brushed and light and cheerful colors. Berthe Morisot, Julie Manet and her doggy Laërte , 1893 iOil on canvas • 73 × 80 cm • Coll. Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris Berthe Morisot often painted her only daughter, Julie Manet, with whom she had a close bond. We find here the young girl in mourning dress, after her father's death, in their bourgeois apartment. She is accompanied by her dog, symbol of loyalty, offered by her tutor Mallarmé. Morisot's style was perfectly accomplished at that time, with great freedom and perfect modernity, favoring sketch and instantaneity over details.
Read in Magazine Beaux Arts, article by Claire Maingon Video with 300 paintings