Spring landscape
Berthe Morisot·1890
Historical Context
By 1890, when Morisot painted this spring landscape, she had been widowed two years earlier and was entering one of the most intensely creative decades of her career. Spring subjects — blossom, new foliage, light-filled gardens — appear frequently in her late work, and this canvas at the National Gallery of Art reflects her sensitivity to seasonal change. She was spending extended time at Mézy, the property she took after Eugène Manet's death, and landscape painting provided both consolation and technical stimulus through those years of adjustment.
Technical Analysis
Morisot renders spring foliage with an exceptionally loose, gestural touch, applying colour in broken layers that create the visual sensation of leaves in light rather than their literal description. The palette is high-keyed, greens ranging from warm yellow-green to cooler blue-green.
