Berthe Morisot - Masterpiece Curations

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“It is important to express oneself… provided the feelings are real and are taken from your own experience.” ~Berthe Morisot

Berthe Morisot Early Life

Berthe Morisot (pronunciation) was born in Bourges, France in 1841 to a wealthy middle-class or “bourgeois” family. She had two older sisters and one younger brother. When Berthe was eleven, she and her family moved to Paris, where she ended up living for the rest of her life.

As part of their bourgeois upbringing, Berthe and her sister Edma were required to learn the art and so were tutored by a painter named Joseph Guichard. Throughout their training, Guichard would take them to the Louvre, where the two sisters had the opportunity to copy some of the paintings.

Guichard recognized that both girls were extremely talented in art and that they could take up careers as artists if they so desired. Edma, however, married a naval officer and moved away, giving up art so that she could raise a family. The two sisters were always close though and maintained correspondence through letters, with Edma encouraging Berthe to pursue a career as a painter.

As Berthe continued to study art, she registered as an official copyist at the Louvre. While there, she met Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot who encouraged her to start working en plein air or painting outdoors. During this time, she was also introduced to the artist Édouard Manet, who became a lifelong friend and for whom she posed for several paintings.

Berthe Morisot and the Paris Salon

In 1864, when Berthe was twenty-three years old, the Paris Salon accepted two of her paintings, which was a rare achievement for a woman of her age. She continued exhibiting at the Salon for a few years, however, as the Impressionist movement began to grow among the artists she considered friends, she found she identified more with their new art style. Thus, in 1874, when the Impressionists started their own exhibition, she displayed her art with them instead and continued exhibiting with them for the rest of her life.

In 1874 Berthe married Édouard Manet’s brother, Eugène, and in 1878, she had a daughter, Julie. Instead of giving up painting, however, Berthe found a balance between artist and mother and even taught Julie the ways of art.

The inspiration for Berthe’s subjects was mostly drawn from her own personal experiences, therefore she usually painted women, children, and other intimate and domestic scenes of everyday life. However, it’s notable that many of her pieces depicted the life of a woman in the nineteenth century, where she featured themes such as the restrictions of women and subsequent boredom with having little to do.

The Death of a Master Artist

Berthe painted for the rest of her life, until her death in 1895. However, her legacy lives on as one of the prominent contributors to the Impressionist movement, as well as her efforts to fight against preconceived gender stereotypes.