Born on January the 14th in 1841 in
France, Berthe was the first woman to join the
impressionist movement.
She was also one of the most
active,
exibiting in all but one of their shows, and regularly
exibited works at the
Salon. Her family was very wealthy, and she was brought up learning some
of the finer hobbies such as
drawing and
painting. This was a fortunate
chance since she is
considered by many, along with
Mary Cassatt, to be one of the most
important woman painters of the
19th century.
Morisot's style was influenced early on by Edouard Manet whom she often posed for and whom with she
became good friends. After a while, her style became distinctively unique, to the point where she
began to infulence Manet's style. She encouraged Manet to paint less with blacks and the darker palette
that he is so famous for, and to use brighter colors in his works. Berthe is most famous for painting
happy domestic life, and children. Some of her more recognized pieces include: The Cradle,
Summer Day, La Lecture, The Harbor at Lorient, Little Girl Reading,
The Bath, and Hide-and-Seek.
"I don't think there has ever been a man who treated a woman as an equal and that's
all I would have asked, for I know I'm worth as much as they" --Morisot
Berthe Morisot died of pneumonia at the age of 54 in 1895.