MANET/MORISOT EXHIBIT at the Legion of Honor Art Museum, San Francisco, CA

Portrait of Berthe Morisot Reclining, by Edouard Manet, 1873

Note: This post describes my visit to the exhibit of the paintings of Edouard Manet and Berthe Morisot at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco that ended March 1, 2026. Manet and Morisot is currently on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art (March 29—July 5, 2026).

On my recent visit to the Legion of Honor Art Museum in San Francisco I saw the excellent Manet and Morisot exhibit featuring the friendship and artistic connections between these two French artists. It brought back memories of my 19th Century Art History classes when I was a student. In this exhibit, I learned that not only were Morisot and Manet close friends and influenced one another as painters, but that she became his sister-in-law when she married his brother Eugene. She was also one of Manet's models. 

The Balcony, by Manet. Morisot is the seated figure on the left.

The exhibit filled four rooms at the Legion of Honor, the first room focusing on the early years of Manet and Morisot’s friendship. Berthe Morisot (1841-1895), was nine years younger than Edouard Manet (1832-1883), and met him when she was still an art student. (He was already famous for his bold painting style that marked the beginning of the modern era.) While she posed for him in his studio, it was an opportunity for her to observe how Manet worked, learn from him and for their friendship to develop. 

Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets, by Edouard Manet, 1872.

Perhaps Manet’s most famous portrait of Morisot depicts her with a bouquet of violets. The figure, with her piercing eyes, tall hat, and unruly hair, is painted boldly in black. You have to look closely to find the tiny violets fastened to her dress.

Boating, by Edouard Manet

Lake in the Bois de Boulongue (Summer Day), by Berthe Morisot

In the second room of the exhibit we see treatments of similar subjects by the two artists—a woman before a mirror, an outdoor scene in the country, two people in a boat. Unlike Manet, who exhibited at the Paris Salon, the traditional venue for artists to show their work, Morisot exhibited her paintings with the Impressionists. Throughout the exhibit you can see lightness of her touch and complex treatment of color that links her to artists like Monet and Renoir.

Jeanne (Spring), by Edouard Manet.

Summer (Woman Beside a Window), by Berthe Morisot.

The third room of the exhibit is called The Parisiennes, focusing on portraits of women of Paris. On one wall we see the four seasons—portraits of women representing spring, summer, fall, winter. Interestingly, two are by Manet and two by Morisot. Neither painted a full set. These are some of the last paintings Manet did before he died.

Children with a Basin, by Berthe Morisot, 1886.

Like Mary Cassatt, the American painter who worked in France and exhibited with the Impressionists, Berthe Morisot often painted mothers and children. Several of those paintings are in the final room of the exhibit where we see Morisot’s work painted after Manet’s death. The Chinese porcelain basin in the above painting was a wedding gift to Berthe and Eugene from Edouard Manet.

Self Portrait, by Berthe Morisot, 1885.

The last painting in the exhibit is a self-portrait, in which Morisot looks straight out of the canvas, engaging, and perhaps challenging, the viewer to see her as a professional. Although frequently treated more as a footnote in the history of art, this exhibit reveals Morisot’s true talent. And it shows the complexity of her relationship to Manet and how they influenced one another.

The Railway, by Edouard Manet.

Detail of The Railway, by Edouard Manet.

When I go to a museum I always take photos because I never have time enough to read everything and see everything up close. When I look at my photos at home I can visit the exhibit again virtually. The examples here are just a taste. For an excellent overview of the exhibit you can read this review in artnet https://news.artnet.com/art-world/impressionist-masters-manet-morisot-major-museum-show-2644203

Interior,, by Berthe Morisot.

For more about Manet, often called the "Titan of Modern Painting" go to my post of December 16, 2019 about the exhibit at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles of Manet's late works, Manet and Modern Beauty. 

At the Milliners, by Edouard Manet, 1881.

 

THE BROKEN PITCHER by William Adolphe Bouguereau, at the LEGION OF HONOR ART MUSEUM, San Francisco

The Broken Pitcher by William Adolphe Bouguereau, 1891

When I was growing up, the walls of our house were decorated with prints of paintings by famous artists--The Flower Seller by Diego Rivera, Bridge at Arles by Vincent Van Gogh, Snowy Egret by John James Audubon. My father loved art and after he retired from his career as a social worker, he became a docent at the Legion of Honor art museum in San Francisco. One day he brought home a poster of one of the paintings in the museum's permanent collection, The Broken Pitcher by William Adolphe Bouguereau. We had no more room in the house for art, so we hung the poster in the garage over the washing machine, where it stayed for many years. With every load of laundry, I gazed into the young girl's sad eyes, wondering what her life might have been. 

Paintings and silver tea set at Legion of Honor museum.

On a recent visit to the museum I had the chance to see the original painting, hung in a room with other 19th century paintings along with decorative arts of the time, and it brought back memories of my father's years as a docent. One of his roles was to lead tours, pointing out interesting facts about the artists and paintings. Here is what he had to say about The Broken Pitcher.

Gallery talk by Lester Scheaffer

If this gallery were a salon of the late 19^th century, you would see many more paintings like the one before us, “The Broken Pitcher,” than  the ones that hang in this gallery. There were two reasons—it conformed with the standards of The French Academy, and it was pleasing to a great many buyers of art.

This painting by Adolphe Bouguereau was done in 1891. While the hand of The Academy was not quite as firm in the 1890s as it was in the third quarter of the century, the basic criteria for acceptable painting was still present—restraint, simplicity, and balance. Experimental paintings were flatly rejected, the artist reviled. This is what happened to the Impressionists. Patrons from the middle class, the bourgeoisie, were attracted to paintings that were 1. ostentatious; 2. That told a story; 3. That did not violate their sense of morality; and 4. That these characteristics show on the surface—that is, nothing too subtle.

This painting is certainly balanced and it is centered. It ha a bit of the classical feeling, reminders of the old days, with the architectural design of the stone well, a suggestion of classical ruins in the background, and above all, the orderliness of the composition. The composition is truly linear, no problem whatever in following the lines of the drawing. The subject matter is sentimental and moralistic. The broken pitcher symbolizes this young girl’s loss of virginity, about which she is perplexed and anxious—“What do I do now?” 

Detail, The Broken Pitcher by Bouguereau.

Her big puppy dog eyes look out at us appealing for an answer. How could a viewer or a buyer not react favorably to a painting like this, at least the buyers of the 19^th century.

One person who reacted in the opposite way to Bouguereau, according to a story, was Auguste Renoir, the Impressionist. On being fitted for a new pair of glasses to correct his myopia, he threw them on the floor crying, “My God, I see like Bouguereau!”

If one had asked Bouguereau how he felt about Renoir and his friends, he probably would have said, “The feeling is mutual.”

Notes: Bouguereau  (1825-1905)–studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Prix de Rome 1850, great technical skill, slick painting but soft style, technically his paintings hold together, could paint any subject desired by the buying public, commercially successful in both Europe and the US.

 

At the Legion of Honor Art Museum, San Francisco, CA