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Berthe Morisot

Child in a Red Apron, 1886

Now On View

Description

Maker

  • Berthe Morisot, 1841-1895, French

Title

Child in a Red Apron

Year

1886

Medium

Oil on canvas

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • oil paint

Supports

  • canvas

Dimensions

60 x 49.9 cm (23 5/8 x 19 5/8 inches)

Type

  • Paintings

Credit

Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund

Object Number

2010.57

About

This painting depicts Julie Manet, the seven-year-old daughter of the artist Berthe Morisot and her husband, Eugène Manet. She peers at a wintry landscape outside the family’s home in Paris, perhaps holding a prism to her eyes. The setting was Morisot’s bedroom, distinguished by a window whose small panes function as a compositional device that connects interior to exterior space. Across the canvas, a fluid net of slashing and spiraling marks rush through the room and animate Julie’s costume and pose. The vertical glint of a brass knob suggests that the window is ajar, introducing a breeze that lifts the ties of the child’s red apron and causes the curtains to flutter behind her.

Owned by the artist’s descendants for more than a century, this is the first painting by Morisot to enter the RISD Museum’s collection. It represents the work of one of the primary members of the group of Impressionist painters, whose technical and representational inventions transformed the appearance of painting in the late 19th century. Morisot was a close friend of Edgar Degas and Pierre-Auguste Renoir and the sister-in-law of Édouard Manet, whose portrayal of her in a painting titled Repose is on view in the adjacent gallery. Individual in their styles, each of the Impressionists explored the use of broken brushstrokes and flattened spatial relationships and all were preoccupied with themes of modern life.

Morisot built her images slowly and preferred to begin directly on a white surface, frequently leaving parts of the background bare. She often skipped the stages of preliminary drawing and instead used color to deliver the effect of line. Whether working in pastel, watercolor, or oil, she sought the same effects of gesture, transparency, and blur. In this seemingly sketch-like impression, what appear to be hastily placed marks are elements of a selective process intended to capture movement and light. A domestic space, a mesmerized child, and a snowy Parisian landscape all emerge from Morisot’s strategic web of animated and abbreviated strokes.

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Projects & Publications

Publications

A Snowy Day in Paris

Read Online

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Inventing Impressionism

October 21, 2016 - June 11, 2017

Morisot captured her daughter, Julie, as she peered at a snowy landscape from a bedroom in their Paris home. The glint of a brass knob at top left suggests the window is ajar, while diagonal lavender brushstrokes below mimic a breeze that rustles the curtains and lifts the ties of Julie’s apron. Spiraling and slashing marks animate the setting, creating a sense of movement and immediacy.

While the subject appears quickly drawn, Morisot worked deliberately, seeking the same effects of gesture and transparency whether employing pastel, watercolor, or oil. She often proceeded without preliminary sketches, painting with fluid and abbreviated strokes without completely covering the white canvas.

European Galleries

Morisot captured her daughter, Julie, as she peered at a snowy landscape from a bedroom in their Paris home. The glint of a brass knob at top left suggests the window is ajar, while diagonal brushstrokes at lower left mimic a breeze that rustles the curtains and lifts the ties of Julie's apron. Spiraling and slashing marks animate the setting, creating a sense of movement and immediacy.

The subject appears quickly drawn, but Morisot worked deliberately and sought the same effects of gesture and transparency whether employing pastel, watercolor, or oil. She often proceeded without preliminary sketches, painting with fluid and abbreviated strokes and choosing not to completely cover the primed white canvas.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Child in a Red Apron with the accession number of 2010.57. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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