Berthe Morisot: Pioneer of Impressionism

Sometimes, while researching for my blog posts, I stumble upon small details that suddenly make my subject come to life. This happened again when I discovered that a rose bears the name "Berthe Morisot." A rose—delicate yet resilient, elegant yet grounded. Somehow, it perfectly fits the woman considered one of the most important Impressionists. Her paintings, too, reflect this delicate balance between fragility and strength, between lightness and depth.

Berthe Morisot was a true pioneer in an era when women were often sidelined in the art world. As a co-founder of Impressionism, she created works that, with their delicate brushstrokes and subtle colour nuances, convey a sense of intimacy and warmth. Though her name is far less known than her male counterparts, like Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, or Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot carved out her place in the art world.

Who was this woman who managed to make a name for herself in a time when art was firmly in male hands?

“I don’t believe there has ever been a man who treated a woman as an equal, and that is all I would have asked for, for I know I am just as good as they are.”

- Berthe Morisot

Berthe Morisot: Between Talent and Gender Roles

It certainly wasn’t easy. Although Berthe Morisot was one of the most significant Impressionists, her work (during her lifetime and especially in the decades after her death) was overshadowed by her status as the "muse" and sister-in-law of Édouard Manet. People even often claimed she was his student. But she was not! Long before they met, she was an established artist in her own right. This reduction of her role to her relationship with a male colleague was typical of how women artists were marginalized.

As a woman, Morisot was excluded from many important artistic networks—central places for exchanging ideas and making connections in the art world. Without this access, it was not only harder for her to gain a foothold but she was also significantly limited in her choice of subjects. The most coveted motifs of the late 19th century—public life in bars, cafés, and theatres—were closed off to her. Morisot had to focus on domestic and private scenes.

Despite this, she built a successful career. But she constantly had to fight against gender-based prejudices. Contemporary critics and audiences tended to view her work through a gendered lens. Even well-meaning critics like Émile Zola praised her style, but the vocabulary they used often reduced her to female stereotypes, describing her art as “delicate,” “charming,” “graceful,” or “feminine”—attributes that subtly undermined her work by framing it as inherently “female.”

In 1880, the critic Charles Ephrussi described her style as follows: “It seems as if she crushes flower petals on her palette and then spreads them onto the canvas in highly spiritual brushstrokes. The result seems haphazard, yet they come together, and something very fine emerges, which is lively and charming, and one senses it rather than truly sees it.”
What bothers me here isn’t the soft, floral description of a woman’s work, but the exclusivity of it.

However, not all reviews were as generous. Albert Wolff, a conservative art critic of the late 19th century, wrote a piece in Le Figaro about the 5th Impressionist exhibition in 1880. He cautiously praised some of the male Impressionists as bold and innovative. But he - brace yourself - derided Morisot’s painting style as unfinished and whimsical, attributing this to her femininity.

"Why does she, with her talent, not take the trouble to finish her paintings? Morisot is a woman, and therefore capricious. Like Eve, she bites into the apple, but gives up far too quickly. A pity, because she bites very well."

Had Eve finished the fruit from the tree of knowledge, there would have been none left for Adam—and all men thereafter. Though I doubt it would have made a difference for Albert Wolff.

What was considered powerful and progressive in men was dismissed as incomplete and fickle in women.

A Leading Impressionist

Berthe Morisot grew up in a wealthy, educated family in Bourges, France. Cultural and artistic interests were encouraged by the family. Urged by her mother, Berthe studied painting alongside her sister, Edma, under several artists from the Barbizon School. Since women at the time were not allowed to attend state-run art academies, they received private lessons.

Edma and Berthe often visited the Louvre, where they made copies of masterpieces and studied various painting techniques. During these visits, they also met other young painters, including Claude Monet and Edgar Degas.

The bond between Berthe and her sister Edma was very close. The two shared a passion for art, often painting together and supporting each other. Edma was also a talented artist. In 1864, both sisters exhibited at the Paris Salon for the first time.

Paris Salon

The Salon de Paris was the most important official art exhibition in France and the main venue for artists to gain recognition. Organized by the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the Salon attracted both established and emerging talent. Exhibiting at the Salon usually meant professional success and social acceptance. The conservative jury, however, favoured traditional, academic art styles.

At only 23, Berthe Morisot was able to present two of her works, Snowy Landscape and The Family Home in Passy, at the 1864 Salon—an impressive achievement. This opened doors to a wider audience and earned her recognition within established art circles.

In 1869, Edma married and chose to give up painting to devote herself to family life. For Berthe, this marked the loss of a close artistic companion. Adhering to the social conventions of the time, Morisot, now without a chaperone, could no longer visit the Louvre or go on painting excursions. She retreated into her art and distanced herself from academic painting. Over time, a new artistic network developed, in which Édouard Manet, whom she had met a year earlier, played a particularly important role.

It was probably the break with traditional academic painting in favour of a freer, more experimental approach that prompted Morisot to destroy her earlier works. For us today, this is an incredible loss: hardly a single painting from the period before 1869 has survived.

Turning to Impressionism

Berthe had to start over. One of the major influences on the new direction of Morisot’s work was Camille Corot, whom she had also met at the Louvre. He encouraged her to paint outdoors, igniting her passion for plein-air painting - a central element of her later Impressionist works. The encounter with Édouard Manet was also a turning point in Morisot’s artistic development. Although Manet wasn’t strictly an Impressionist himself, he introduced her to the circles of the emerging Impressionist movement.

Manet was fascinated by Morisot and painted her several times, as in works like Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets (1872) and Le Repose (1870). Their friendship was marked by deep mutual respect. Manet was impressed by Morisot’s talent and independent artistic vision. Even the lighter tones in his later works are attributed to Berthe’s influence.

She, in turn, saw him as an extraordinarily talented artist, admiring his technique and innovative use of colour and light. 

However, Manet occasionally tried to position himself as Morisot’s mentor, a role she did not need, as her letters to her sister Edma reveal. Though Manet inspired her with his avant-garde approach that challenged traditional boundaries, Berthe was much bolder and more decisive in her use of light and colour. And she developed rapidly beyond his influence. Her works became less formal, increasingly embracing the Impressionist aesthetic. Loose brushstrokes, bright colour palettes, and an emphasis on fleeting moments and impressions characterized her distinct artistic language.

By the early 1870s, Morisot had fully committed to Impressionism. Though she had regularly exhibited at the Salon since 1864, she turned away from the institution, finding its rigid, conservative stance incompatible with her increasingly modern style. In 1874, at the first exhibition of the Impressionists, Berthe Morisot exhibited alongside artists like Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro. At the second exhibition the following year, her painting L'Intérieur (see cover image) fetched the highest sale price - a remarkable success!

Morisot’s Role in the Impressionist Exhibitions

Berthe Morisot was the only woman who committed to the group of Impressionists from the very beginning. With just one exception, she contributed to all the Impressionist exhibitions. In 1879, she had more important matters to attend to, as she had just given birth to her daughter, Julie. But the following year, she resumed exhibiting with the group.

The eighth and final Impressionist exhibition took place in 1886. By this time, the group had already splintered, and some of the original members, including Monet and Renoir, no longer participated. Morisot was one of the few who remained devoted to the group and played a key role in organizing the exhibition. Thanks to her efforts, works by artists like Camille Pissarro and Paul Gauguin were showcased. Her husband, Eugène Manet, the younger brother of Édouard Manet, whom she had married in 1874, assisted her with the organizational tasks.

Later Years

Berthe Morisot continued her career as a prominent artist. After the Impressionist exhibitions ended, she participated in other major exhibitions in Paris, including the Salons and various private galleries. By this point, she enjoyed widespread recognition for her art, both in France and internationally. Her works were not only appreciated by critics but also purchased by collectors. Paul Durand-Ruel, a key art dealer and promoter of the Impressionists, played a central role in marketing her paintings.

In 1892, her husband Eugène passed away, and the loss deeply affected her; her works became more introspective and atmospheric. Three years later, on 2 March 1895, Berthe herself died at the age of 54 from pneumonia, which she contracted while caring for her sick daughter Julie.

In the years following her death, Berthe Morisot’s work was appreciated by some collectors and art connoisseurs, but it gradually faded from public consciousness. As artists like Monet, Degas, Pissarro, and Renoir rose to prominence as the main figures of Impressionism, Morisot remained largely in the shadows. Over the 20th century, she almost completely disappeared from public awareness. Art historical accounts of Impressionism focused primarily on her male colleagues, and her works were rarely featured in major exhibitions, despite many of her paintings being held in prestigious collections.

Even after World War II, when Impressionism experienced a revival, Morisot’s name barely resurfaced. Art historians, in this new wave, once again concentrated on the “great masters” of Impressionism, while the women of the movement were sidelined.

Rediscovery

In the 1970s, with the rise of feminist art history, interest in female artists began to grow. Researchers increasingly questioned why so few women were given their due in art history, even though many had made significant contributions.

From the 1990s onwards, Berthe Morisot gradually regained her rightful place in the history of Impressionism. Her works were featured in major international exhibitions, and more books and scholarly studies began to give her work the recognition it deserved.

Today, her name is more frequently mentioned alongside Monet, Degas, Renoir, and Pissarro.

“Berthe Morisot was a woman who, with all her propriety and discretion, was a true revolutionary.”

- Paul Valéry

Marginalization of Women in Art

When we look at art history, it is overwhelmingly male. Artists like Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Artemisia Gentileschi, Rosa Bonheur, and others who were successful in their time are often portrayed as “exceptions” in a male-dominated art world.

The formal and informal barriers women faced long denied them access to art academies, exhibitions, or networks. Life drawing classes were deemed inappropriate for them, and they often weren’t even allowed to move freely in public without a chaperone.

And yet, many women artists achieved recognition in their lifetimes, only to be erased from art history after their deaths. Their works were either attributed to male artists, marginalized, or simply ignored.

This systematic erasure or downgrading of women’s roles in art reflects the social norms of the time, which restricted their access to education, art institutions, and public spaces. Power structures within the art world—dominated by male curators, collectors, and critics—reinforced these barriers. Men decided what art was considered important, which often resulted in the devaluation or omission of women’s work, even when they were successful in their era.

To this day, works by female artists are less frequently represented in major exhibitions or prestigious collections. On the art market, they often fetch lower prices than those by their male counterparts.

Feminist art history has started to fill these gaps.

A Final Thought

To conclude, I want to express my thanks to my dear friend and colleague, Nadine Achtelik, who suggested Berthe Morisot as the topic for this article. Often, the best ideas come from a conversation, and this was certainly the case here.

I hope you found inspiration while reading, and I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions, or comments below.

How do you perceive Berthe Morisot’s work? What resonates with you about her story?