Past Exhibition

Berthe Morisot--Impressionist

Shown from the lap up, two women with pale skin and dark hair pulled up and back, wearing white dresses with baby-blue polka dots, sit on a couch in this horizontal portrait painting. Both women have straight, dark brows, delicate noses, smooth skin, and their small, rose-pink mouths are closed. Wispy bangs brush their foreheads, and their hair is piled high with long ringlets falling down their backs. Both wear black ribbons like chokers around their necks. Their dresses have high necks with ruffles along the necklines, ruffles at the wrists, and are gathered under the bust. They sit angled in toward each other. The woman on our left has black hair, and she looks down and to our right with dark eyes. She wears a gold ring with a dark, oval stone on one hand resting in her lap. The other woman has chestnut-brown hair and looks down and off to our left with ice-blue eyes. She holds an open fan in her hands in her lap. The fabric on the couch has vertical white and lilac-purple stripes, and is overlaid with a pattern of pink flowers and green leaves. A framed picture hanging on the bone-white wall behind the women shows an arched painting against a sky-blue background. A few spiky leaves from a houseplant are cut off by the left edge of the painting. The portrait is loosely painted throughout, especially in the couch and background. The artist signed the painting in the upper right corner, “Berthe Morisot.”
Berthe Morisot, The Sisters, 1869, oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. Charles S. Carstairs, 1952.9.2

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    West Building, Main Floor, Paul Mellon Galleries 73 through 79 (8,000 sq. ft.)
Shown from the lap up, two women with pale skin and dark hair pulled up and back, wearing white dresses with baby-blue polka dots, sit on a couch in this horizontal portrait painting. Both women have straight, dark brows, delicate noses, smooth skin, and their small, rose-pink mouths are closed. Wispy bangs brush their foreheads, and their hair is piled high with long ringlets falling down their backs. Both wear black ribbons like chokers around their necks. Their dresses have high necks with ruffles along the necklines, ruffles at the wrists, and are gathered under the bust. They sit angled in toward each other. The woman on our left has black hair, and she looks down and to our right with dark eyes. She wears a gold ring with a dark, oval stone on one hand resting in her lap. The other woman has chestnut-brown hair and looks down and off to our left with ice-blue eyes. She holds an open fan in her hands in her lap. The fabric on the couch has vertical white and lilac-purple stripes, and is overlaid with a pattern of pink flowers and green leaves. A framed picture hanging on the bone-white wall behind the women shows an arched painting against a sky-blue background. A few spiky leaves from a houseplant are cut off by the left edge of the painting. The portrait is loosely painted throughout, especially in the couch and background. The artist signed the painting in the upper right corner, “Berthe Morisot.”
Berthe Morisot, The Sisters, 1869, oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. Charles S. Carstairs, 1952.9.2

Overview: 60 oil paintings, 23 watercolors, 13 pastels, and 8 drawings were selected for this first major American museum retrospective devoted to Berthe Morisot. The works, selected by William P. Scott, included many not seen publicly since the artist's memorial exhibition in 1896, the year after her death.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum in association with the National Gallery, to mark the 150th anniversary of the college. Charles F. Stuckey was the coordinator. Gaillard Ravenel and Mark Leithauser designed the exhibition and Gordon Anson designed the lighting for the National Gallery.

Sponsor: The exhibition was supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, and contributions from Republic National Bank of New York and Banco Safra, S.A., Brazil.

Attendance: 215,363

Catalog: Berthe Morisot, Impressionist, by Charles F. Stuckey and William P. Scott, with Suzanne G. Lindsay. Mount Holyoke College Art Museum and National Gallery of Art, 1987.

Other Venues:

  • Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 12/14/1987–02/22/1988
  • Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, Massachusetts, 03/14/1988–05/09/1988

You may also like

Exhibition:  Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985

Exhibition:  The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art