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BertheMorisot

Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot was a painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. She was described by Gustave Geffroy in 1894 as one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism alongside Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt.
In 1864, she exhibited for the first time in the highly esteemed Salon de Paris. Sponsored by the government, and judged by Academicians, the Salon was the official, annual exhibition of the Académie des beaux-arts in Paris. Her work was selected for exhibition in six subsequent Salons until, in 1874, she joined the "rejected" Impressionists in the first of their own exhibitions, which included Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley. It was held at the studio of the photographer Nadar.
She was married to Eugène Manet, the brother of her friend and colleague Édouard Manet.
Morisot was born in Bourges, France, into an affluent bourgeois family. Her father, Edmé Tiburce Morisot, was the prefect (senior administrator) of the department of Cher. He also studied architecture at École des Beaux Arts. Her mother, Marie-Joséphine-Cornélie Thomas, was the great-niece of Jean-Honoré Fragonard, one of the most prolific Rococo painters of the ancien régime. She had two older sisters, Yves (1838–1893) and Edma (1839–1921), plus a younger brother, Tiburce, born in 1848. The family moved to Paris in 1852, when Morisot was a child.
It was common practice for daughters of bourgeois families to receive art education, so Berthe and her sisters Yves and Edma were taught privately by Geoffroy-Alphonse Chocarne and Joseph Guichard. Morisot and her sisters initially started taking lessons so that they could each make a drawing for their father for his birthday. In 1857 Guichard, who ran a school for girls in Rue des Moulins, introduced Berthe and Edma to the Louvre gallery where they could learn by looking, and from 1858 they learned by copying paintings. He also introduced them to the works of Gavarni. Guichard later became the director of École des Beaux Arts where Morisot's father earned his degree.
As art students, Berthe and Edma worked closely together until Edma married Adolphe Pontillon, a naval officer, moved to Cherbourg, had children, and had less time to paint. Letters between the sisters show a loving relationship, underscored by Berthe's regret at the distance between them and Edma's withdrawal from painting. Edma wholeheartedly supported Berthe's continued work and their families always remained close. Edma wrote “… I am often with you in thought, dear Berthe. I’m in your studio and I like to slip away, if only for a quarter of an hour, to breathe that atmosphere that we shared for many years…”.
Her sister Yves married Theodore Gobillard, a tax inspector, in 1866, and was painted by Edgar Degas as Mrs Theodore Gobillard (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).
Morisot registered as a copyist at the Louvre where she befriended other artists and teachers including Camille Corot, the pivotal landscape painter of the Barbizon School who also excelled in figure painting. In 1860, under Corot's influence she took up the plein air (outdoors) method of working. By 1863 she was studying under Achille Oudinot, another Barbizon painter. In the winter of 1863–64 she studied sculpture under Aimé Millet, but none of her sculpture is known to survive.
Morisot's first appearance in the Salon de Paris came at the age of twenty-three in 1864, with the acceptance of two landscape paintings. She continued to show regularly in the Salon, to generally favorable reviews, until 1873, the year before the first Impressionist exhibition. She exhibited with the Impressionists from 1874 onwards, only missing the exhibition in 1878 when her daughter was born.
Morisot's mature career began in 1872. She found an audience for her work with Durand-Ruel, the private dealer, who bought twenty-two paintings. In 1877, she was described by the critic for Le Temps as the "one real Impressionist in this group." She chose to exhibit under her full maiden name instead of using a pseudonym or her married name. In the 1880 exhibition, many reviews judged Morisot among the best, including Le Figaro critic Albert Wolff.
In 1868 Morisot became friends with Édouard Manet who painted several portraits of her, including a striking study in a black veil while in mourning for her father. Correspondence between them shows warm affection, and Manet gave her an easel as a Christmas present. To her dismay he interfered with one of her Salon submissions whilst he was engaged to transport it, mistaking her self-criticism as an invitation to add corrections. Manet wrote: "The young Morisot girls are charming. It's annoying that they are not men. However, as women, they could serve the cause of painting by each marrying a member of the French Academy and sowing discord in the camp of those dotards."

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A Corner of the Rose Garden

The Cradle

A Woman at her Toilette

Eugene Manet on the Isle of Wight

The Quay at Bougival

Cache-cache (Hide-and-Seek)

The Port of Nice

Avenue du Bois de Boulogne in Spring

On the Balcony of Eugene Manet's Room at Bougival

Daffodils

Study, The Water's Edge

Red haired girl sitting on a veranda

In the Garden at Maurecourt

The Bowl of Milk

The Red Jacket. Mlle Isabelle Lambert

Shepherdess Laying Down 1

The Fable

The Garden at Bougival

Roses Tremieres (Hollyhocks)

Woman Wearing Gloves (also known as The Parisian)

Thatched Cottage in Normandy

The Hairdresser

Haystacks at Bougival

Two Nymphs Embracing

Peasant Girl among Tulips

Lucie Leon at the Piano

Getting Up

The Butterfly Hunt

In the Bois de Boulogne

Pasie sewing in Bougival's Garden

Jeannie's Head (aka Tete de Jeannie)

Young Girl with Doll

Dahlias

Self-Portrait

La lecture (Reading, The Mother and Sister Edma of the Artist)

The Dining Room

Young Woman Picking Oranges

The Little Girl from Nice, Celestine

Reading with Green Umbrella

Beneath the Lilac at Maurecourt

Little Dancer

Self-Portrait with Julie (study)

the cheval glass

Mme. Pontillon

The Harbor at Lorient

After Luncheon

Conversation

Woman and Child Seated in a Meadow

tureen and apple

The Lesson in the Garden

Madame Albine Sermicola in the Studio

Sunset at the Lake in the Bois de Boulogne

Getting out of Bed

On the Lake in the Bois de Boulogne

On the Sofa

Girl with Dog

Little Girl with Blond Hair

The Reclining Shepherdess

Children at the Basin

Julie with Pasie in the Garden at Bougival

Cottage Interior (also known as Interior at Jersey)

Girl gathering cherries

The Cheval Glass

Portrait of the Artist's Mother and Sister

Butterfly Hunt

Jeannie Gobillard

Jeune Fille a la Levrette

On the Beach at Portrieux

Hide and Seek

Young Girl Resting

On the Balcony

Lady with a Parasol Sitting in a Park

The Bath

Young Woman in a Blue Blouse

Portrait of Madame Edma Pontillon

Hanging the Laundry out to Dry

In a Villa at the Seaside

Julie Listening

Julie Manet, Reading in a Chaise Lounge

Julie Writing

Woman and Child

Pears

Portrait of Marguerite Carre (also known as Young Girl in a Ball Gown)

Mother and Sister of the Artist

Mme Boursier and Her Daughter

Studying the Violin

The Hydrangea

The Orange Picker

Swans

Before the Mirror

Farm in Normandy

Young Lady Seated on a Bench

Peasant Hanging out the Washing

The Rouart's Dining Room

Young Woman in White

Young Woman Knitting

Bather

By the Water

Little Girl Sitting on the Grass

Summer's Day

Girl with Shuttlecock (also known as Jeanne Bonnet)

Julie Manet with a Budgie

The Sewing Lesson (also known as The Artist's Daughter, Julie, with Her Nanny)

The Psyché

Port of Gorey

Julie Rêveuse

Profile of a seated young woman

Girl with Dog 1

The Orange Picker

Portrait of Edma

Psyche

Portrait of a Woman in a pink dress

Young Woman in Mauve

View of Tivoli (after Corot)

Child Playing in the Garden

The Beach at Petit Dalles (aka On the Beach)

Child in Bed

The Mandolin

On the Cliff at Portrieux

Young Woman in White (also known as Isabelle Lemmonier)

English Seascape

Portrait of the Artist's Daughter, Julie Manet, at Gorey

West Cowes (also known as Port in England)

Woman with a Child in a Boat

Haying at Mezy

On a Bench in the Bois de Boulogne

Boats - Entry to the Medina in the Isle of Wight (aka pugad baboy)

Hanging out the Laundry to Dry

The Artist's Sister Edma with Her Daughter Jeanne

Young Woman Leaning on Her Elbows

untitled (5969)

Bust of Alice Gamby

Young Woman Sewing in a Garden

In the Dining Room

The Black Finger Bandage

The Blue Vase

Boats under Construction

Girl in a Boat, with Geese

Doll on a Porch

untitled (2469)

Julie Manet and her Greyhound Laerte

Young Woman Putting on Her Skates

L'hortensia

Before the Mirror

Boat on the Quay

Child among Staked Roses

Portrait of Berthe Morisot and Her Daughter (also known as Self Portrait with Julie)

The Artist's Daughter with a Parakeet

The Bois de Boulogne

Young Girl with an Umbrella

At the Beach in Nice

calvary (after veronese)

Rosalie Reisener

Young Woman with a Straw Hat

Choir Boy

Venus at the Forge of Vulcan (after Boucher)

Portrait of Julie

Carriage in the Bois de Boulogne

In the Garden

Harbor in the Port of Fecamp

Picnic in the Courtyard

Jeune Fille en Blanc

untitled (2945)

julie dreaming

The Seine below the Pont d'Lena

Portraitof Mademoiselle Labillois

Boats on the Seine

untitled (6526)

Daisies

Julie and Eugene Manet

The Cage

Villa with Orange Trees, Nice

Young Girl with a Bird

Little Girls in the Garden

The Wet Nurse Angele Feeding Julie Manet

Young Woman in a Blue Blouse

Autumn in the Bois de Boulogne

Haystack

Playing in the Sand

untitled (9406)

Landscape of Creuse

Julie Playing a Violin

On a Bench

Young Girl with Doll 1

Miss Reynolds

A Summer's Day

Girl Playing the Mandolin

The Cherry Tree (study)

Interior

Portrait of Paule Gobillard

In the Wheatfield at Gennevilliers

Tureen And Apple

Little Girl with a Doll

Roses

untitled (3648)

Child in the Rose Garden

Mud Pie

Jeanne Pontillon Wearing a Hat

Portrait of a Young Girl

Child with a Red Apron

The Little Maid Servant

Young Woman Leaning on Her Elbow

Fall Colors in the Bois de Boulogne

Girl and Child on the Grass

Shepherdess Resting

Woman in Black

The Old Track to Auvers

Young Woman on a Couch

Julie Daydreaming

On the Terrace

In a Park

The Seine at Bougival

Young Woman Watering a Shrub

Young Woman Seated on a Sofa

At the Exposition Palace

On the Lawn

Julie Manet with a straw hat

Portrait of Marcel

On the Beach

Aboard a Yacht

Young Woman in Grey Reclining

Paule Gobillard Drawing

View of Paris from the Trocadero Heights

Portrait of Marcel Gobillard (Little Boy in Gray)

Young Girl with a Parrot

At the Ball

Young Girl and the Budgie

Julie and Her Boat

Figure of a Woman (Before the Theater)

Mme. Hubard

The Artist's Sister at a Window

Landscape at Gennevilliers

The Flageolet

Young Woman

The Goose

Willows in the Garden at Bougival

Dans les vignes (Bougival)

Un village (Le village de Maurecourt)

The Little Windmill at Gennevilliers

The Bath at Mesnil

The Artist's Daughter Julie, with Her Nanny (The Sewing Lesson)

The village of Maurecourt

Boating on the Lake

Etude pour ''La joueuse de flageolet''

Portrait de Mlle Labillois

Jeune fille au chat

The Violin

The beach at Nice

Young Woman Holding a Dog in Her Arms

Luncheon in the Countryside

Young Woman in a Rowboat, Eventail

Little Girl Reading

Portrait de Charley Thomas

Tête de jeune fille rousse (Jeanne-Marie)

untitled (9664)

Woman in a Garden

Devant la toilette

Landscape

The Cherry Tree

Sketching

The seamstress Sun

The Piano

Image Le berceau (The Cradle)

Berthe Morisot Dessinant avec sa Fille

The Tuileries

Jeune femme assise (Portrait de Julie Manet)

Little Girl in a Garden

Peasant Girl Hanging Clothes to Dry

Le cerf-volant

Snowy Landscape (also known as Frost)

Julie la chvre

The Banks of the Seine

Interior of a Cottage

Fillette assise dans l'herbe

Mlle. Louise Riesener

Seated Nude

Portrait of Jeanne Pontillon

Girl with a Dog

On the Veranda

Paule Gobillard Painting

The Mother and Sister of the Artist The Lecture

dahlias

Young Woman Dressed for the Ball

Julie with Her Nurse

Young Woman and Child, Avenue du Bois

Woman and Child on a Balcony

Little Girls at the Window (Jeanne and Edma Bodeau)

Women and Little Girls in a Natural Setting

Woman with a Fan (also known as Head of a Girl)

Girl with Fan

On the Lake

Girl with Cat

Woman Getting Dressed (also known as Young Woman Fastening Her Stockings)

washing

Summer (also known as Young Woman by a Window)

Winter (also known as Woman with a Muff)

Old Path at Auvers

The Cherry Tree

Forest of Fontainebleau

Edma pontillon

Little Girl in a Blue Dress

Young Woman Powdering Her Face

Eugene Manet and His Daughter at Bougival

Manet wight

Girl Sewing in a Garden

Young Woman and Child on an Isle

Tete de chien griffon, Follette

Young Woman in a Hat (Henriette Patte)

Young Woman Sewing in the Garden

Rosbras (Finistere)

Little Girl at Mesnil (Jeanne Bodeau)

Portrait of Children

waters edge

Head of a Red-Haired Girl

Harbor Scene, Isle Wight

Studies of a Little Girl

Girl en face with Nude Shoulders, Seated

The cradle Sun

untitled

Two Sisters on a Couch (also known as The Sisters)

Landscape near Valenciennes

balcony