Under the Orange Tree

Painted in 1889 during Morisot's visit to Nice and the surrounding Mediterranean area, this canvas of figures under an orange tree captures the southern light and vegetation that distinguished her Mediterranean subjects from her Parisian and Normandy work. The orange tree's dense foliage, dark glossy leaves, and the possibility of hanging fruit against a warm southern sky gave Morisot rich chromatic material. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City holds this vivid late-period work.

The dense orange tree foliage is built from varied greens — olive, deep emerald, warm yellow-green — with rapid strokes that capture the leaves' collective mass and light. The figures beneath benefit from the dappled southern light, their forms suggested through warm flesh tones and pale clothing set against the darker tree.