In the Garden at Maurecourt

Artist Berthe Morisot (French, 1841-1895)

Date1884

DimensionsPainting: 21 1/4 x 25 5/8 in. (54 x 65.1 cm)
Frame: 30 × 34 1/2 × 4 in. (76.2 × 87.6 × 10.2 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1930.9

Not on View

Label TextPainted in oil paints with the freedom and spontaneity of a watercolor sketch, In the Garden at Maurecourt vibrates with movement despite the stillness of its seated figures. The loose, rapid brushstrokes and color harmonies seem to merge figures and landscape. As one critic wrote in 1880, “Berthe Morisot handles the palette and brush with a truly astonishing delicacy. Since the 18th century, since Fragonard [Morisot’s grandfather; see his painting in Gallery 26], no one at all has used clearer tones with such intelligent assurance.” The painting likely shows Morisot’s little daughter, Julie, and one of the daughters of Morisot’s sister Edma. The setting is Edma’s garden at her country home outside Paris. Born to an upper-middle class family, Morisot rejected the social expectations of her class and gender by pursuing a professional career as an artist. In 1868 she met and became close friends with artist Édouard Manet (see his painting Antonin Proust). She married his younger brother Eugène in 1874, the same year she participated in the first Impressionist group exhibition.Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 61, Sept. 1931, repr.

Angoulvent, M., Berthe Morisot, Paris, 1933, p. 128, no. 219.

Godwin, Blake-More, Catalogue of European Paintings, Toledo, 1939, p. 230, repr. p. 231.

Dunlop, R. O., Landscape Painting Ma Yüan to Picasso, London, 1954, repr. pl. 37.

Rouart, D., ed., The Correspondence of Berthe Morisot, New York, 1959, repr. opp. p. 90.

Wildenstein, G., and M.-L. Bataille, Berthe Morisot, catalogue des peintures, dessins, aquarelles, Paris, 1960, no. 154, pl. 47.

Manet, Degas, Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt, Baltimore, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1962, repr. p. 32.

Neilson, Winthrop, Seven Women: Great Painters, Philadelphia, 1969, p. 166.

Lee, Katharine C., "French Impressionism," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 12, no. 3, Autumn 1969, repr. p. 70, repr. p. 70 (det.) above.

Fundabark, Emma Lila, and Thomas G. Davenport, Art in Public Places in the United States, Bowling Green, 1975, repr. no. 200, p. 167.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 115, pl. 258.

Rey, Jean Dominique, Berthe Morisot, New York, 1982, p. 62, repr. (col.) p. 66.

Buettner, Stewart, "Images of Modern Motherhood in the Art of Morisot, Cassatt, Modersohn-Becker, Kollwitz," Womans' Art Journal, vol. 7, no. 2, Fall 1986/Winter 1987, p. 16, repr. fig.3.

Adler, Kathleen, and Tamar Garb, Berthe Morisot, Oxford, 1987, pl. 85.

Stuckey, Charles F., et al., Berthe Morisot: Impressionist, Manchester, VT, Hudson Hills Press, 1987, p. 99 100, 219, repr. (col.) p. 99.

Gerstein, Marc Saul, Impressionism: Selections from Five American Museums, Manchester, VT, Hudson Hills Press, 1989, p. 140, repr. (col.).

Clairet, Alain, Berthe Morisot, 1841-1895: Catalogue Raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Montolivet, 1997, no. 157, p. 190, repr.

Johnston, Sona, Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections, New York, Rizzoli, 1999, p. 134, repr. (col.).

Berthe Morisot, 1841 1895, Paris, Reunion des Musees Nationaux, 2002, pp. 282, 284, repr. p. 285 (col.).

Bray, Xavier, et al., Inspiring Impressionism: The Impressionists and the Art of the Past, Denver Art Museum, 2007, p. 54, repr. p. 57 (col.).

Seattle Art Museum, Inspiring Impressionism: The Impressionists and the Art of the Past, [calendar/brochure], Summer 2008, repr. p. 2-3 (col., det.).

Greub, Suzanne, ed. Monet: Lost in Translation, Munich, Hirmer, 2015, p. 109, fig. 41 (col.), p. 110.

Patry, Sylvie, ed. Berthe Morisot: Woman Impressionist, New York City, Rizzoli Electa, 2018, pp. 151, 158, cat. 52 (col.), p. 155.

Duggan, William and Amy Murphy, The Art of Ideas: Creative Thinking for Work and Life, New York, NY, Columbia University, 2019, repr. p. 5.

Patry, Sylvie, ed., Berthe Morisot, Paris, France, Flammarion, p. 218, repr. (col.) no. 57, p. 118 [in French].

Exhibition HistoryParis, Durand-Ruel, Berthe Morisot, Exposition Commemorative, 1896, no. 107.

San Francisco, Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939.

Arts Club of Chicago, Berthe Morisot, 1943.

Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Rise of Impressionism, 1948.

New York, Wildenstein, Berthe Morisot, 1960, no. 36, repr.

San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Berthe Morisot, 1960-1966.

Baltimore Museum of Art, Manet, Degas, Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt, 1962, no. 88.

New York, Wildenstein, One Hundred Years of Impressionism: A Tribute to Durand-Ruel, 1970, no. 61.

Washington, D. C., National Gallery of Art; Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum; South Hadley, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, Berthe Morisot: Impressionist, 1987-1988, no. 48.

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Saint Louis Art Museum; Toledo Museum of Art, Impressionism: Selections from Five American Museums, 1989-1990, no. 59.

Mexico City, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Maestros del impresionismo, 1998-1999, p. 128, repr. (col.). Baltimore Museum of Art; Houston, Museum of Fine Arts; Cleveland Museum of Art, Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections, 1999-2000, no. 48.

Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts; Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Berthe Morisot, 1841-1895, Mar. 10-June 9, 2002, no. 82.

Atlanta, High Museum of Art; Denver Art Museum; Seattle Art Museum, Inspiring Impressionism: The Impressionists and the Art of the Past, 2007-2008, no. 68, p. 54, repr. p. 57 (col.) [Included in calendar/brochure at Seattle Art Museum, Summer 2008, repr. p. 2-3, (col., det.)]

Quebec; Richmond; Phoenex, A Passion for Flowers: Painting in France from Courbet to Monet, 2010. Aarhus, Denmark, ARoS Art Museum, "Monet: Lost in Translation," October 9, 2015 - January 10, 2016. Philadelphia, The Barnes Foundation; Dallas, Dallas Museum of Art; Paris, Musee d'Orsay, Berthe Morisot: Woman Impressionist, Oct. 20, 2018-May. 26, 2019.

Copenhagen, Denmark, Ordrupgaard, Impressionism and Its Overlooked Women; Dublin, Ireland, National Gallery of Ireland, Women Impressionists, Feb. 9 - Oct. 9, 2024.