In the Dining Room

1886

Berthe Morisot

Artist, French, 1841 - 1895

A young woman with pale, peach skin wearing a white apron over an ankle-length navy-blue dress stands in a dining room in this vertical painting. The painting is created using loose brushstrokes throughout. The woman stands facing and looking out at us. Her auburn-brown hair is pulled up into a bun, and bangs sweep across her forehead. Her eyebrows are slightly raised, her deep pink lips are closed in the hint of a smile, and she holds her hands at her chest. Some details throughout the painting are indistinct because of the loose painting style but she might hold a mixing bowl. The high-necked bodice of the dress has buttons down the front, and the apron falls to mid-shin. A tall curio cabinet fills the space to our left and brushes the top edge of the canvas. It seems to be filled with white or silver serving pieces, and a white cloth is draped over one of the open cabinet doors below. A clock hangs on a wall over an oil lamp between the woman and curio cabinet. Light pours in through a tall window or French doors behind the woman to our right. Roughly painted forms suggest a house and landscape beyond. One chair is pulled up to a round table that is cut off by the right edge of the canvas. A decanter, perhaps glass, and bowl of peach and rose-colored fruit sit on the table. A small white dog with tan spots scampers at the woman’s feet near the chair. The artist signed the painting in brown in the lower left corner: “Berthe Morisot.”

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 87

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 61.3 x 50 cm (24 1/8 x 19 11/16 in.)
    framed: 78.7 x 67.3 cm (31 x 26 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.185

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

From the artist to (Portier, rue Lepic, Paris); [1] (Murat sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 29 April 1899, no. 13). Eugène Blot, Paris; (Blot sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 10 May 1906, no. 53); Mr. Tweed, New York; probably by inheritance to Miss Mary W. Tweed, New York; (Tweed sale, American Art Association, New York, 4 April 1929, no. 62); Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York;[1] bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1]See letter from Mme. Ernest Rouart, daughter of the artist, dated 1948, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1886

  • La 8me Exposition de Peinture [Eighth Impressionist Exhibition], Paris, 1886, no. 85, as Petite servante.

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

1986

  • The New Painting: Impressionism 1874-1886, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1986, no. 147, repro.

1987

  • Berthe Morisot, Impressionist. National Gallery of Art; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, MA, 1987-1988

Bibliography

1942

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 46, repro.

1944

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1944: 46, repro.

  • Jewell, Edward Alden. French Impressionists and their Contemporaries Represented in American Collections. New York, 1944: repro. 117.

1953

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1953: 56, repro.

1959

  • Evans, Grose. French Painting of the 19th Century in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number Two in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 30, color repro.

1961

  • Bataille, M.L., and Georges Wildenstein. Berthe Morisot, catalogue des peintures, pastels et aquarelles. Paris, 1961: no.194.

1962

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 166, color repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 324, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 94.

  • Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 88, repro.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:430, color repro.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 83, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 248, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 459, no. 662, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 286, repro.

1995

  • Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. New York, 1995: 1014, fig. 27-51.

1997

  • Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Watercolours and Sculpture (Part I), Christie's, London, 1997: 24, no. 1, repro.

1999

  • Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. 2 vols. Revised ed. New York, 1999: 1015-1016, fig. 27-55.

Inscriptions

lower left: Berthe Morisot

Wikidata ID

Q19973935

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