Boats (Entry of the Midina to the Isle of Wight)

Executed in watercolor in 1895 — the year of Morisot's death — and now in the Harvard Art Museums, this work depicts boats at the Isle of Wight, recalling the subject of Morisot's 1875 trip to Cowes when she painted her husband Eugène there. The watercolor may have been made during a final visit or from memory and sketches, and represents her continuing engagement with maritime subjects. Harvard's collection includes important works on paper, and this late Morisot is a significant example of her watercolor practice.

Watercolor allows Morisot to capture the shifting light of the sea and the boats' forms with exceptional freshness and economy. The washes are handled with confident spontaneity, the boats and water suggested through overlapping transparencies of blue, grey, and warm ochre, the paper's white showing through in the brightest areas.