Berthe Morisot, impressionist painter

Many of the impressionists used to set up outside, easels planted in the ground, reproducing the landscape that was offered to them. Many are they but not numerous. It was indeed much more difficult for a woman to venture out into nature to paint the panorama of parks, boulevards and even less bars.

Fortunately, today we correct the shot, many exhibitions put the women in the honor, and today we will focus on Berthe Morisot.

Who was Berthe Morisot?

Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) is one of the women painters of the early Impressionist period. She was born in 1841 in Bourges into a bourgeois family. Her father was a prefect. She was encouraged from the beginning to develop her artistic sensitivity. Berthe was a descendant of Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Berthe's mother was his great grand niece. Far away, of course, but painting runs in the family, even Berthe's sisters fell into the milieu.

Entrusted to Jean-Baptiste Corot, Berthe quickly took lessons in plein air painting. She was subsequently admitted to the 1864 Salon and then to the 1865 Salon. At first, she was not noticed. She ended up meeting a lot of nice people, including Charles Baudelaire, Jules Ferry, and above all, Édouard Manet.

A bad reputation:

However, Berthe did not have a good reputation. Added to this was the jealousy of other women who said that she slept with all the men whose portraits she painted. Critics continued to denigrate Berthe's work. Even Manet, her friend, said of her: "The Misses Morisot are charming, it is unfortunate that they are not men. However, they could, as women, serve the cause of painting by marrying an academician.

Édouard Manet sometimes went so far as to alter Berthe's paintings. Fortunately, Berthe retouched her own paintings at the last moment and they remained friends.

During the war, Berthe left Paris, and eventually returned to the city. Her studio is damaged and she takes a moment to pose for Édouard Manet.

Then Berthe began to be recognized by her peers. One of the first was Edgar Degas. Berthe began to move away from the influences of Edouard Manet to develop her own style, incorporating more color. She even ended up influencing him.

Berthe Morisot was the first French woman to be considered equal to men. All her life she painted a world without men, entirely female.

A trendsetter:

After the death of her father, Berthe joined the Société anonyme des artistes peintres, sculpteurs et graveurs, and abandoned the official Salon. Obviously, Berthe was the only woman. Édouard Manet did not follow her. Berthe asserts her independence. The press continued to ridicule her. But Berthe did not weaken, she participated in almost all the exhibitions of the Société anonyme.

Other women emerged, notably Mary Cassat. Along with Berthe, they began to establish themselves as leaders of the new Impressionist trend. For the first time, women were considered at the origin of an avant-garde movement.

In these last years, Berthe discovered new techniques, such as sculpture, and began to treat nudes.

In 1895, Berthe became ill. She suffers from a pulmonary congestion, and dies in 1895. On the death certificate, no profession is indicated. However Berthe was a great artist.

To learn more about Berthe Morisot, watch a free video on our streaming platform, the show My Little Museum!