The Mother and Sister of the Artist

Morisot
Berthe Morisot. The Mother and Sister of the Artist. 1869-70.

The Morisot sisters, Edma and Berthe, had the same dream of being an artist. Only they ended up with Berthe as the painter and Edma as the painted. Born in a middle-class bourgeois family in Bourges, France, the sisters had their parents’ support to pursue this rather peculiar profession for women. The two artists enjoyed a close relationship until Edma chose marriage and motherhood over an artistic career. In The Mother and Sister of the Artist, Morisot paints her sister as sad, submissive, and completely blocked by her mother. In the late 19th century, the avant-garde Impressionists gained little appreciation from the public or the critics. This criticism was especially harsh on women painters, one art critic dismissed the Impressionists as "five or six lunatics, including one woman."

Morisot depicted mostly domestic mother-and-child scenes, partly because she wished to show women in their everyday life, also because, as a young bourgeoise, she outright could not be seen at the popular cafes and bars that the males painted.  The situation for Morisot and fellow women painters such as Mary Cassatt is clearly shown in Morisot’s relationship with Edouard Manet. Manet painted Morisot more than twelve times but Manet never posed for her. Morisot, anxious about sending Mother and Sister to the Salon, solicited Manet's advice. Rather than offering verbal suggestions, Manet extensively repainted the whole canvas. Manet's suave shorthand, seen in the mother's features and black dress, differs visibly from Morisot’s light touch in her sister's features. “My only hope is that I shall be rejected,” Morisot wrote to her sister in agony. The painting was accepted. 

Painted during 1969-70, four or five years before the First Impressionist Exhibition, this painting already shows the main features of Impressionism. Unfinished, casual strokes and open contours highlight the artistic qualities that Morisot and her close circle practice. The contrast between Edma’s pearl-colored dress and her mother’s black dress enhances a sense of entrapment, both for Edma and for Berthe. The chair leg is an interesting choice, too, in its simple, almost abstract form. 

  • 7:00 AM

Portrait of a Woman Scorned: Psyche

Katherine Anderson
Portrait of a Woman Scorned
The Fairer Sex Treated Not-So Fairly
Curated by Katherine Anderson
Berthe Morisot, Psyche, 1876


Each day we constant live in fear. Not the common sense of fear, but rather an underlying desire to be appreciated and included in the goings on of our surroundings. Our subconscious thrives on encounters with the people surround us, and the phobia of exclusion constantly dictates what actions we perform next. Berthe Morisot recognized this desire among women - according to European society, a woman must be thin, well-dressed, and perfectly innocent, a trifecta than drove women insane as they tried to conform to the expected perfection.

Thus, Morisot's masterpiece illustrates the hopelessness of this conformity. We see a young girl cinching the waist of her perfectly tailored dress, standing awkwardly in her heeled shoes as she stares longingly into the mirror. The image of perfection seems haunting, for though the girl appears affluent and well-coifed, the expression of her eyes shows that she feels subpar, unable to be the emblem of beauty and grace. The patterns of the surrounding room perpetuate this entrapment - the young girl cannot escape the demanding trends of her time. The mirror presents Morisot's greatest critique of her surroundings. The young girl appears faceless, undifferentiated from the world around her. She has conformed to the blasé culture that surrounds her.

  • 7:00 AM

A Room with a View - Eugene Manet on the Isle of Wight

A Room with a View
A Room with a View
Examining the Film through an Art Historian's Lens
Curated by Melissa Martin

Berthe Morisot, Eugene Manet on the Isle of Wight, 1875 
"My father says there is only one perfect view, and that's the view of the sky over our heads." - George Emerson Much of A Room with a View takes place outside, whether the characters are exploring the sights of Florence, bathing al fresco in the English countryside, or playing an intense game of badminton. The Emersons' love of nature contrasts the societal expectation for women to stay indoors, which further emphasizes their free-spirited approach to Edwardian standards. Interestingly enough, Edouard Manet, a key leader of the Impressionist movement, did not share this same affection for the outdoors...at first. Natural light drives Impressionism, infiltrating every piece and dictating each artist's style. Berthe Morisot embraced this idea by practicing plein air painting, or painting "in the open air." She eventually convinced her colleague and friend, Manet, to take up the technique and enter the outdoors. However, it appears that Manet prefers the comfort of the indoors in Morisot's Eugene Manet on the Isle of Wight. At least he can discreetly stalk the lovely ladies passing by, which might be the view he prefers.
  • 12:00 AM

Hide and Seek

Hide and Seek

Berthe Morisot, Hide and Seek, 1873


Berthe Morisot was not only a career woman, but also a loving wife and mother. Unlike many female artists who were forced to give up either their careers or hopes of a family, Morisot had the best of both worlds. In her painting, Hide and Seek she depicts a mother playing with her child. The mother is Berthe’s sister Edma, and the child is her daughter. Both Edma and Berthe were given painting lessons at a young age and both went on to paint, yet once Edma became pregnant she decided to leave her painting behind. Some critics infer that Berthe at times envied her sister’s freedom, as oxymoronic as it is. Berthe was given the freedom to be a painter,yet longed at times to be a mother to her daughter and a wife to her husband. She did not want the pressure she felt as a painter to effect her home life, and keeping business and family separate was a daunting task. 


The painting is characteristic of Morisot, and many other women impressionists, a loving bond between a mother and child. The impact her friendship with Manet had on her painting style is clear here. She met Manet in 1868, and this was painted in 1873. The mother and her child are camouflaged in nature; the viewer cannot tell where the grass ends and her dress begins. In Morisot’s fashion the brushstrokes are quick and almost whimsical. The feeling of the painting is very serene and peaceful. It encompasses Morisot’s feelings about motherhood and painting, pure joy. Morisot is a remarkable painter, more talented than anyone could have given her credit for. 

  • 12:00 AM