Berthe Morisot was closely associated with French Impressionism and actively participated in seven out of eight group’s exhibitions. She maintained close and creative links with Manet, Renoir and Degas, sharing their interest in subjects derived from everyday life and in capturing the effects of light.

Morisot painted women and children set in may and various scenes, as well as landscapes and still-life’s. All display, in their poses, compositions, and painterly brushwork style, a sparkling spontaneity that inspired the contemporary critics Paul Mantz and Theodore Duret to describe her as the quintessential Impressionist.

Berthe Morisot had a very good art roots. She was the granddaughter of the famous rococo painter Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806) – the one of the famous “The Swing”. Berthe with her sister Edma, had been enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, from 1856 to 1859. In 1868 Morist met the ‘painter of real life’ –  Edouard Manet, who became her advisor and a close friend. Morisot became a subject of many Manet’s paintings. She also married his younger brother Eugène.

Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets, 1872, Musée d’Orsay.

Today we want to show you one of the most famous masterpieces of Morisot, Woman at Her Toilette, from Art Institute of Chicago’s collection.  Typically for Impressionists, Morisot attempted to capture the essence of modern life in summary. The subject, explored before numerous times by Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir was rarely broached at this time by women artists – maybe because of its erotic connotations.

Berthe Morisot, Woman at Her Toilette, 1875/80, Art Institute of Chicago

The painting is like a visual poem, with all these shades of lavender, pink, blue, white, and gray. By denying us seeing the model’s face, Morisot broke with the convention of using the mirror as a means to double the voyeuristic pleasure of glancing at a woman unawares. Morisot’s women are usually like this – suggestive, delicate, implied by nuance of color and lightness of touch.

Don’t forget to read our article about female impressionists 🙂