Young girl in a park

Young Girl in a Park belongs to Morisot's extensive series of children and young women in garden and park settings — subjects that constitute perhaps her most characteristic body of work. The parkland setting, whether a private garden or a public park like the Bois de Boulogne, provided Morisot with the dappled, complex light conditions she explored most fluently, and the figures of young girls allowed her to study the relationship between feminine dress — light summer frocks, straw hats — and the outdoor atmosphere. The spontaneity of the observation — a girl caught in a momentary pose — is fundamental to the work's Impressionist character.

Sunlit garden foliage provides the background in varied greens and yellows, painted with free, upward strokes. The girl's pale dress catches the light against the darker greens, her figure rendered with Morisot's fluid abbreviation.