Berthe Morisot
Édouard Manet·1873
Historical Context
Painted in 1873 and with unknown current location, this portrait of Berthe Morisot belongs to the extended series of approximately a dozen portraits that Manet made of her between 1868 and 1874 — more than of any other sitter. Morisot was his student, his model, his sister-in-law (she married his brother Eugène in 1874), and a major Impressionist painter in her own right. Their relationship has been the subject of extensive scholarship and speculation. The portrait series documents an unusual dual dynamic: Manet as portraitist of a woman who was simultaneously his peer as an artist. The 1873 examples date from the year before her marriage, when their friendship was at its most intense.
Technical Analysis
Manet's portraits of Morisot are among his most psychologically charged figure paintings — her gaze consistently direct, somewhat guarded, the treatment never sentimental. The characteristic dark accessories he deployed in her portraits — black dress, black ribbons, dark fans — created tonal anchors for the composition while contributing to her slightly melancholy psychological presence.
