“Manet & Morisot” is the first major exhibition dedicated to the artistic and personal connection between two superb 19th-century French painters — Édouard Manet, known as the father of modern painting, celebrated for the female nudes in “Olympia” and “The Luncheon on the Grass”, and the underappreciated but brilliant Berthe Morisot, the only woman showing her work in the renowned 1874 first Impressionist exhibition.
Although previously known chiefly as a portrait subject and muse for the nine years older Manet, recent research reveals that Morisot became a significant influence on Manet, as well as an esteemed colleague. San Francisco’s Legion of Honor’s marvelous exhibit explores the close connection between the two artists over about 15 years, from 1868 until Manet (b.1832) died in 1883.
Morisot (1841-1895) was brought up in a well-known upper-middle-class family. She was a student of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, who encouraged her to paint outdoors — a key technique used in her landscapes and outdoor scenes. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the then-revered and formal Salon de Paris. Her work was selected for exhibit in six subsequent Salons until she joined the first Impressionist show, which also included work by Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. She continued to show at seven out of eight of the Paris Impressionist exhibitions.
Morisot became a model for Édouard Manet in the late 1860s. He encouraged her to meet his younger brother Eugène, who was also a painter. Berthe and Eugène married in 1874. The marriage cemented her relationship with her new brother-in-law, transforming it into a competitive but collegial and more mature rapport.
“Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets,” 1872
The Legion of Honor’s exhibition, which explores the development of the artists’ extraordinary friendship, is chronologically arranged. It features thirty-six paintings, and six drawings and prints lent by museums and private collections in the United States and Europe. “Manet & Morisot” begins with their early connection, when Morisot was a model for Manet. Of the dozen or so portraits Manet painted of Morisot, “Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets” and “The Balcony” capture her best.
Morisot’s first works, such as “The Harbor at Lorient,” when compared to Manet’s early portraits of Morisot, illustrate a significant difference between the two artists’ styles. Manet was a planner. He prearranged, reworked, and coated his canvases thickly. To use a modern analogy, Manet colored within the lines, while Morisot, in contrast, used free, open, fluttering brushstrokes, giving her work a colorful, more alive, and spontaneous appearance.
As the exhibit continues, the curators cleverly pair similar works by the two painters. We can see how Manet borrowed from and was influenced by Morisot in later years. The couplings include identical subject matters.
For example, there are comparable plein air garden and beach scenes, portraits of Parisian women, and the 1882 portraits of Morisot’s daughter Julie with a watering can. Morisot’s “Playing in the Sand” shows the 3 ½-year-old child, facing slightly away from the viewer, amidst bright bursts of color. Manet’s “Julie Manet with a Watering Can,” unfinished when Manet died the following year, is more somber and formal.
“Jeanne (Spring),” 1881
A highlight of the exhibition is “The Four Seasons,” a cycle of paintings depicting modern Parisian women, with each woman representing a season. Morisot began the series with the 1880 “Summer” and “Winter.” Manet finished the series with the 1981 “Spring” and then “Autumn,” which he died before completing.
“Manet & Morisot” is an absolute pleasure — beautiful art, in attractive, well-lit galleries, with excellent descriptive texts and labels. In 2008, the Legion of Honor had a groundbreaking exhibit of paintings by four women Impressionists, of which Morisot was one. (https://culturevulture.net/art-architecture/women-impressionists/). It is gratifying that Morisot now has a complete, well-researched exhibition of her own. One leaves the show with a fresh admiration for Morisot, a lesser-known giant among all the Impressionists.
Emily S. Mendel
©Emily S. Mendel 2025. All Rights Reserved.
