In 1894, famed art critic Gustave Geffroy described Berthe Morisot, Marie Bracquemond, and Mary Cassatt as “les trois grandes dames” (the three great ladies) of the Impressionist movement.
Born into a wealthy bourgeois family from Bourges, France, Berthe Morisot learnt how to paint at an early age, having private lessons along with her sisters.
As art students, Berthe and her sister Edma would spend hours in the Louvre copying the great works.
While marriage and family life ended Edma’s art career, Berthe continued to paint, and in 1864 at age 23, she exhibited at the prestigious Salon de Paris—the official, annual exhibition of the Académie des beaux-arts in Paris.
Then in 1874, she stopped exhibiting with the academy and joined the Impressionists, which included Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley.
Regarded as a “virtuoso colorist”, Berthe created a sense of space and depth with color, painting what she saw and experienced in everyday life. But there is a message in her work—one that tells a story of the class and gender restrictions of the 19th century.
Focusing on family life, her portraits often feature her own daughter, Julie, from her marriage to Édouard Manet’s brother, Eugène.
Portrait of Julie (Berthe’s daughter) by Berthe Morisot, 1889Behind the Blinds by Berthe Morisot, 1879Lilacs at Maurecourt by Berthe Morisot, 1874Hide and Seek by Berthe Morisot, 1873On a Bench by Berthe Morisot, 1889
Woman and Child on a Balcony by Berthe Morisot, 1872Studying the Violin by Berthe Morisot, 1893The Pink Dress by Berthe Morisot, c.1870Young Girl with a Bird by Berthe Morisot, 1891Young Woman Watering a Shrub by Berthe Morisot, 1876
The Basket Chair by Berthe Morisot, 1882In the Dining Room by Berthe Morisot, 1875Lucie Leon at the Piano by Berthe Morisot, 1892The Cradle by Berthe Morisot, 1872The Harbor at Lorient by Berthe Morisot, 1869
After Luncheon by Berthe Morisot, 1881Psyché by Berthe Morisot, 1875The Lake in the Bois de Boulogne by Berthe Morisot, 1879Eugene Manet and His Daughter in the Garden by Berthe Morisot, 1883Young Girl with Doll by Berthe Morisot, 1884
Woman Wearing Gloves ny Berthe Morisot, 1885On the Veranda by Berthe Morisot, 1884On the Lake by Berthe Morisot, 1884Doll on a Porch by Berthe Morisot, 1884Young Girl with Doll by Berthe Morisot, 1883
The Fable by Berthe Morisot, 1883On the Balcony of Eugene Manet’s Room at Bougival by Berthe Morisot, 1881Young Woman Picking Oranges by Berthe Morisot, 1889Pasie Sewing in the Garden by Berthe Morisot, 1882Young Woman and Child, Avenue du Bois by Berthe Morisot, 1894
