Portrait of Berthe Morisot with a Fan
Édouard Manet (French, 1832-1883)
1874
- Medium
- Watercolor over traces of graphite on cream wove paper
- Classification
- Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions
- 20.9 × 16.8 cm (8 1/4 × 6 5/8 in.)
- Culture
- France
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- Helen Regenstein Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Édouard Manet represented his close friend artist Berthe Morisot twelve times between 1868 and 1874 in etching, lithography, oil paint, and watercolor. In this watercolor Manet used a limited palette and a combination of techniques to depict Morisot against a blue-green background. He worked wet-into-wet for her dress, applying wet pigment onto an already wet surface before it had time to dry, which allowed the marks to bleed and blend into one another. Then Manet used a dry-brush technique to emphasize the texture of the fabric of her dress and the ribbon in her hair. Both these textures contrast with the relative flatness of the muted background, making the sitter stand out.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
