Berthe Morisot

Berthe Morisot was a painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. She was undervalued for over a century, possibly because she was a woman, but she is now considered among the first league of Impressionist painters.

Berthe Morisot's art depicts the world of the Bourgeoise , their clothes, their lifestyle, their surroundings, and her relationships. Through her unusual talent, the modern viewer can see the usual, everyday life led by the nineteenth century Bourgeoises.

Berthe Morisot was born in Bourges, France on 14 January 1841 into a successful bourgeois family and grand daughter of Jean-Honore Fragonard. Her parents were Edmé-Tiburce Morisot and Marie Corneille Thomas. Berthe's father Edmé-Tiburce Morisot was in service of the government.

In 1858, Berthe's mother Marie inspired her daughters to paint. She sent them to academic painter Geoffrey Alphonse Chocarne who focused his teachings on drawing, and afterward to Joseph Benoît Guichard, a former student of both Ingres and Delacroix. Under Guichard's tutelage, Morisot began to journey to the Louvre in order to study the old masters first hand .This was a self-educational technique.

In 1874, Berthe Morisot married Manet's brother Eugene who was also a painter. They had a daughter Julie.

In 1892, Berthe Morisot had her first solo exhibition after her husband died. Two years later the French government purchased her oil painting Young Woman in a Ball Gown.

In 1895, Berthe Morisot died of pneumonia at the age of 54. Berthe Morisot was buried in in the Cimetière de Passy.