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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Boating, by Edouard Manet |
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| 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.
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| Jeanne (Spring), by Edouard Manet. |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The Railway, by Edouard Manet. |
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| 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
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| 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. |
