Girl in a Boat with Geese

c. 1889

Berthe Morisot

Artist, French, 1841 - 1895

At least one rowboat occupied by two people floats on a lake, which is surrounded by lush green vegetation in this vertical landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted with short and long parallel brushstrokes, so some details are difficult to make out. The white of the four geese lining the bank near us break up a color palette almost entirely dominated by spring, mint, and sage green and royal and baby blue. Three of the geese stand in a line and the fourth bends down to peck at the grass. A bed of deep pink flowers is indicated with touches of vibrant color to our right of the geese. One person wearing a golden yellow garment and a butter-yellow hat rows the boat near the center of the lake. A smudge of cobalt blue could be another person in that boat. Other curved lines in the water could be additional boats or may be reflections in the lake’s surface. Barely discernable, a person, possibly holding a stick, stands among the tall trees lining the opposite bank. The horizon line comes about three-quarters of the way up the composition, and the sky above is painted with watery blue, pale yellow, and ivory-white brushstrokes. The artist signed the work with dark letters near the lower left corner: “B. Morisot.”

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 65.4 x 54.6 cm (25 3/4 x 21 1/2 in.)
    framed: 84 x 72.7 x 4.1 cm (33 1/16 x 28 5/8 x 1 5/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1970.17.50

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Acquired 1892 by Baron Denys Cochin [1851-1922], Paris;[1] sold 6 May 1897 to (Durand-Ruel, New York and Paris); sold 14 May 1906 to Julius Stern [1859-1914], Berlin;[2] (his estate sale, Cassirer, Berlin, 22 May 1916, no. 72). (M. Knoedler & Co., New York);[3] Arnold Kirkeby, New York; (his sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 19 November 1958, no. 4); purchased by Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York;[4] bequest 1970 to NGA.
[1] As recorded in Julie Manet's journal, published Paris, 1979:92. [2]According to a letter dated 20 December 1977 from Charles Durand-Ruel, citing DR Paris stock number 4204. [3]Kirkeby source according to 1958 sales catalogue. [4]According to NGA curatorial records and the Ailsa Mellon Bruce notebook now in NGA archives.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1892

  • Exposition de tableaux, pastels et dessins par Berthe Morisot, Boussod, Valadon et Cie, Paris, 1892, no. 8.

1896

  • Berthe Morisot, Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1896, no. 7.

1902

  • Exposition de tableaux de Berthe Morisot, Durand-Ruel, 1902, no. 51.

1905

  • Pictures by Boudin, Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, Grafton Galleries, London, 1905, no. 169.

1976

  • Women Artists: 1550-1950, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University Art Museum, University of Texas, Austin; Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; Brooklyn Museum, 1976-1977, no. 88, repro.

1987

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

1989

  • Impressionisti della National Gallery of Art di Washington, Ala Napoleonica e Museo Correr, Venice; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1996

  • Obras Maestras de la National Gallery of Art de Washington, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, 1996-1997, unnumbered catalogue, 164-165, color repro.

1999

  • Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 30, repro.

  • Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

Bibliography

1961

  • Bataille, M.L., and Georges Wildenstein. Berthe Morisot, catalogue des peintures, pastels et aquarelles. Paris, 1961: no.244.

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. 666, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 287, repro.

1998

  • Matthews, Roy T. and F. De Witt Platt. The Western Humanities, California, London, Toronto, 1998, no. 19.13, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: B. Morisot

Wikidata ID

Q20189994

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