100 paintings - impressionism
Berthe Morisot: 100 essential paintings
Children, gardens, ports, interiors, toilets, flowers and portraits: a hundred works to understand the luminous modernity of Berthe Morisot.
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Why Morisot matters
A modernity built from the intimate
Berthe Morisot shifted the center of gravity of modern painting. It gave children, women, gardens, ports and interiors an intensity equal to major historical subjects.
In Morisot, the familiar scene is never small: it becomes an experience of light.
This top 100 follows this freedom of touch, from impressionist icons to late portraits and flowers.
Enter the rankingThe 100 essential paintings by Berthe Morisot
Works that place Morisot at the heart of impressionist modernity.
#1The Cradle
Painted in 1872, Le Berceau shows Edma, Berthe Morisot's sister, watching over her daughter Blanche. The mother's left arm and that of the infant form two parallel diagonals, while the veil of the cradle establishes a luminous membrane between them. Presented at the first impressionist exhibition in 1874, this maternity scene transformed a private moment into a major subject of modern painting.
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#2View of the small port of Lorient
In Lorient, in 1869, Morisot placed his sister Edma in the foreground of a small port punctuated by boats and masts. The young woman does not pose in front of an autonomous landscape: her light dress, the quay and the water make up the same network of keys. This view is one of the works where the artist abandons the academic finish in favor of a moving light, already close to impressionism.
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#3The artist's Mother and Sister
The artist's Mother and Sister brought together Marie-Joséphine Morisot and her daughter Edma in the family interior in 1869. Édouard Manet intervened on the canvas before sending it to the Salon of 1870, to the great dissatisfaction of Berthe, who considered his alterations too invasive. The painting remains essential because it shows the artist negotiating family authority, portrait conventions and his own pictorial autonomy.
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#4Butterfly hunting
A woman with a net accompanies children to a summer meadow. Morisot disperses the figures among the grasses, trees and shards of dress, so that the butterfly hunt becomes above all an experience of movement and air. Shown during the first impressionist exhibition in 1874, the work illustrates his way of capturing modern leisure without transforming the scene into a strong anecdote.
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#5On the beach
On the beach brings together the figures of sand and sea without constructing a vast panorama. Dark and light clothing serves as anchor points in the middle of a shore painted with a quick, almost meteorological touch. Morisot is less interested in the seaside spectacle than in the way in which the wind, light and waiting modify the presence of the characters at the water's edge.
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#6Summer day
Two women occupy a boat on the Bois de Boulogne lake, a place for walks very frequented by the Parisian bourgeoisie. Morisot tightens the framing to the point that water and reflections almost entirely surround the models. Presented at the Impressionist exhibition of 1880, this composition combines urban elegance and the outdoors, while leaving the relationships between the two women deliberately open.
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#7View of Paris from the heights of Trocadéro
From the heights of the Trocadéro, Morisot shows Paris through a balustrade in front of which a woman and children stand. The city is not a monumental star: it appears from a distance, veiled by the atmosphere, as the extension of a family walk. Painted in 1872, the work confronts the domestic space assigned to women with the immensity of a capital in full transformation.
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#8Woman and child on the balcony
A woman and a child look at Paris from a balcony, partly turning their backs on the viewer. This orientation shifts the interest of the portrait towards the very act of seeing: we observe figures observing the city. The balcony grille separates the protected space from the foreground of the urban horizon, giving this 1872 scene a discreet tension between intimacy, mobility and the desire for openness.
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#9View of England, or the Isle of Wight
During the 1875 stay on the Isle of Wight, Morisot painted the harbor from an interior or terrace, with a female figure placed near the opening. The boats, facades and water are seen across this threshold rather than described head-on. This construction makes the journey a situated experience: the maritime world is presented to the eye, but remains filtered by the architecture and the position of the observer.
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#10Hide and seek
In Hide and Seek, a woman hides behind a tree while a child walks through the garden. The central trunk shares the composition and transforms the game into a succession of appearances and disappearances. Morisot uses the foliage, the whites of the dress and the areas left light to make the moment unstable; childhood is observed here as a real activity, not as a sentimental pose.
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#11Eugène Manet on the Isle of Wight
Eugène Manet, husband of the artist, is represented near a window or a veranda during the trip to the Isle of Wight in 1875. His dark silhouette stands out in front of the light of the port, but the maritime decor remains deliberately fragmentary. This portrait combines marital proximity and observation from the outside: the man is less presented by his status than by his way of inhabiting a moment of travel.
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#12The Green Shadow, or Reading
Often titled The Reading, this painting shows Edma Pontillon sitting in a meadow, an open book and a green parasol placed near her. The umbrella, the fan and the light dress form broad accents among the grass. Exhibited in 1874, the work avoids the frontal portrait: absorption in reading allows Morisot to paint a presence independent of the viewer's gaze.
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#13The entrance to the port
At the entrance to the port, the masts, sails and the line of the quay structure a narrow maritime view. Morisot does not seek to inventory boats; it varies the density of the key to distinguish water, hulls and atmosphere. The painting testifies to the importance of coastal stays in learning about a landscape subject to rapid changes in light.
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#14Boats under construction
Hulls placed on the shore and frames being assembled give Bateaux en construction a subject of work rather than a picturesque navy. The diagonals of the pieces of wood lead the eye through an unstable space. Morisot treats the site with the same freedom as his gardens: the shapes remain legible, but the touch prevents the industrial pattern from becoming rigid.
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#15On the terrace
A woman sitting on a terrace overlooks a bright shore. The railing, the dress and the strip of sea organize successive shots without isolating the figure from its environment. In this 1874 work, Morisot shows how new vacation spots create new ways of looking: female rest also becomes a position of observation on the modern landscape.
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#16The sisters
Painted in 1869, The Sisters probably represent the young ladies Delaroche, and not Berthe and Edma Morisot as has sometimes been assumed. Their identical dresses and the flowered sofa bring the models together, while their divergent gazes preserve two distinct presences. The open fan, the plant and the painting hanging on the wall precisely balance this double portrait now kept in Washington.
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#17Woman at her toilet
Morisot shows a woman from behind, absorbed in her toilet, in front of a light surface where mirror, skin and fabric almost merge. The absence of visual contact protects the intimacy of the model and diverts the scene from the conventions of the nude offered to the viewer. The painting becomes a study of whites, grays and roses whose unfinished contours suggest a captured gesture before its conclusion.
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#18The Thames
Painted in 1875 during the English voyage, The Thames organizes the river, boats and banks into light strips. Morisot is interested in traffic on the water and the humid atmosphere rather than London monuments. The view reveals his attention to ports as spaces of passage: the hulls and masts give a momentary structure to a landscape always subject to change.
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#19The Psyche
A young woman stands in front of a psyche, a large mobile mirror whose frame cuts and redoubles the space. Morisot does not simply deliver a scene of coquetry: the reflection makes the border between the body, its image and the decor uncertain. Presented at the impressionist exhibition of 1877, the canvas makes the toilet a modern subject and subtly questions the construction of feminine appearance.
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#20In front of the psyche
Before the psyche takes up the theme of the female body confronted with its reflection, but the undone touch prevents the mirror from producing a perfectly stable image. The model arranges her hair while the vertical frame imposes architecture on the stage. Morisot thus transforms a daily gesture into a study of the gaze: the woman acts for herself, without being reduced to a pose intended for the public.
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#21Before the theater
An elegant woman completes her preparation before going out to the theater. The black dress, the light neckline and the accessories condense the codes of Parisian sociability, while the close framing keeps the stage intimate. Morisot does not describe the show to come; she chooses this moment of transition where private identity is apparently composed publicly.
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#22The Pier
On a pier swept by sea air, figures and boats are distributed along a strong horizontal line. Morisot lets the sky and water occupy a large part of the canvas, giving the characters a fragile scale. This economy of means reflects the sensation of a place exposed to the wind, where each silhouette is only a passage through the port expanse.
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#23In the wheat
In the wheat places a figure in the middle of tall vegetation which almost absorbs its body. The yellow, green and white touches do not serve as a simple decoration: they make the density of the field and the dazzling of the open air perceptible. Painted around 1875, the work reverses the traditional hierarchy between model and landscape by letting light circulate freely between them.
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#24Young Woman powdering herself
A young woman raises a puff towards her face in front of a mirror, in a tight framing which favors gesture. Exhibited during the third impressionist demonstration in 1877, the canvas treats a modern ritual without irony or voyeurism. The whites of the bodice, the roses of the skin and the reflections of the mirror construct an image where appearance is created before our eyes.
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#25The Pink Dress
The Pink Dress represents Albertie-Marguerite Carré around 1870, before the full development of Morisot's impressionist manner. The large colored mass of the garment already affirms its interest in the accords of fabric, skin and background. The model is precisely identified, but the pose remains sober: the work measures the distance between the social portrait expected at the Salon and a more immediate presence.
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See this reproduction →Maternity, toiletries, reading, theater and daily life become major subjects.
#26Port of Nice
In Nice, Morisot looks at the port from a slightly elevated point which interweaves quays, sailboats and facades. The light colors and discontinuous touches avoid any heavy topographical description. Painted during the stay of 1881-1882, this view shows its interest in the Mediterranean: drier light simplifies volumes and transforms port activity into a colorful rhythm.
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#27The Black Corse
A woman in a black bodice stands out against a background treated with great lightness. The contrast between the dark clothing, the face and the light touches concentrates attention without imposing an official pose. Presented in 1878, the work shows how Morisot renews the worldly portrait: the identity of the model requires an attitude, a material and a balance of colors more than social attributes.
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#28Eugène Manet and his daughter in the Bougival garden
Eugène Manet is sitting in Bougival's garden with his daughter Julie, born in 1878. The relationship between father and child is part of vegetation rather than a protective interior. Painted in 1881, the canvas gives a rare place to daily fatherhood and combines family portrait, outdoor scene and study of light filtered by foliage.
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#29Fanwoman
The fan held by the model is not a simple decorative accessory: its open shape responds to the folds of the dress and organizes the lower part of the portrait. Morisot keeps the face in a calmer zone of light, while the touch comes alive around the fabrics. The work captures contemporary elegance without freezing the woman in the immobility of a ceremonial portrait.
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#30Woman and child in a meadow in Bougival
In a Bougival meadow, a woman and a child appear at the height of the grass and trees. Morisot circulates greens, whites and roses between the figures and the field, which dissolves the separation between portrait and landscape. Painted around 1882, the scene evokes less a precise story than a shared experience of the outdoors, attentive to the proximity of bodies and vegetation.
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#31Summer
Summer concentrates the season in a female figure surrounded by light and foliage rather than in a descriptive landscape. The calm pose contrasts with a surface worked by free touches. Morisot uses the seasonal title as a state of light and color: the warmth can be read in the lightening of the contours, the clear range and the apparent slowing down of the model.
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#32Winter
Winter belongs to a series of figures associated with the seasons. The denser clothing, the muffled range and the restrained attitude give the portrait a psychological as well as a meteorological temperature. Morisot avoids the allegory loaded with symbols: it makes the season felt through materials, light and the way in which the body occupies a tight space.
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#33Woman in the garden (Arnulphi villa in Nice)
In the garden of Villa Arnulphi in Nice, a woman stands among the foliage and light surfaces of the architecture. Morisot uses vegetation as a mobile screen which fragments the body without masking it. The canvas, linked to the Mediterranean stay of 1881-1882, contrasts the stability of the villa with a light which disperses the shapes and makes the garden almost tactile.
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#34The nurse
La Nourrice gives unusual visibility to female work which supports bourgeois family life. Rather than transforming the model into a social type, Morisot insists on its physical presence, its clothing and its relationship to the child or domestic space. The subject recalls that the artist's intimate scenes are also based on working relationships often erased from representation.
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#35Child in hollyhocks
A child appears among hollyhocks whose erect stems rival his silhouette. The flowers do not form an ornamental framework: they regulate the scale, depth and circulation of colors. Morisot associates childhood with growing vegetation, but without strong symbols; freshness comes mainly from the dialogue between skin, fabric, petals and light.
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#36In the countryside
In the countryside shows figures installed in a rural environment treated with an open touch. The landscape is neither an idealized setting nor a scene of peasant work: it becomes a place of stay, rest and modern sociability. Morisot retains ordinary attitudes and variation of light to give free time an unexpected pictorial density.
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#37Hay in Bougival
Hay in Bougival combines the cultivated landscape with the stays of the Manet-Morisot family on the banks of the Seine. The millstones, cut grass and possible figures are connected by a touch which places more emphasis on heat and material than on agricultural detail. The work shows a city dweller's view of rural work seen from a vacation spot.
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#38Tea
Under the title Le Thé, Morisot brings together figures around a moment of calm sociability. The cups, the table and the fabrics give some reference points, but the main thing lies in the attitudes and silences. The artist makes the tea ritual a space for observing relationships: physical proximity, diverted attention and inner light replace any explicit narration.
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#39Women in a garden
Several women occupy a garden whose foliage divides the silhouettes. Morisot refuses to clearly order the group in front of a background: figures and vegetation share the same surface of keys. This fusion gives the painting its lively character, as if the meeting had been seen in passing rather than composed for a ceremony.
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#40The basket chair
The basket chair provides Morisot with an enveloping shape which organizes the posture of the model and the design of the composition. Its curved frame responds to the folds of the garment, while the seat creates an area of privacy within the room. The piece of furniture is therefore not incidental: it reveals the way in which the artist constructs his portraits from ordinary objects in the domestic frame.
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#41By the lake
At the edge of the lake, the figures are installed at the edge of the water, between a walk and a break. Morisot uses reflections to prevent the landscape from closing in the background: liquid light rises to the clothes. This continuity makes the lake a social as well as natural space, frequented by city dwellers but always subject to variations in the sky.
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#42Julie Manet with her nanny
Julie Manet appears with her nanny in an 1884 scene now kept in Minneapolis. The two figures occupy the same space, but their clothes, gestures and social roles remain distinct. Morisot observes a daily relationship essential to his daughter's childhood, giving the nanny a real presence rather than an anonymous function on the fringes of the family portrait.
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#43Young Woman knitting
A young woman knits in a garden, probably in Bougival, around 1883. The Metropolitan Museum offered to recognize a person employed with Julie, without identification being certain. Morisot associates the regular movement of the hands with the more diffuse movement of the foliage: textile work becomes the fixed point of a scene where everything else seems to vibrate.
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#44The garden in Bougival
The Garden in Bougival was painted in 1884 in a familiar place to stay in Morisot. The trees, paths and flowery masses are distributed without rigid perspective, as if the gaze were advancing in successive touches. The garden offers the artist a laboratory where light can interrupt the contours and where the landscape remains linked to the daily experience of the house.
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#45A woman and a child in a garden
A woman and a child are installed in a garden whose light divides the bodies and foliage. Morisot does not seek to specify a family episode; it makes visible a relationship made of proximity, attention and shared time. The work is characteristic of its ability to give the treatment scenes an ambitious pictorial construction without dramatizing them.
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#46Banks of the Seine
The banks of the Seine are treated as a changing space where water, banks and boats respond to each other. Morisot reduces the details to maintain the sensation of a view taken from life. The Seine appears both as a landscape and as a leisure infrastructure around Paris, linking walks, navigation and new vacation habits.
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#47Hollyhocks
The tall stems of hollyhocks create a plant architecture made of soft verticals and colorful spots. Morisot does not paint an isolated bouquet: she observes the flowers in their environment, subject to light and wind. The work shows how a garden motif can become a study of rhythm, scale and transparency.
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#48The fable
The Fable depicts reading or recitation shared between an adult and a child. The title suggests a transmission, but Morisot focuses mainly on the moment of common attention, when speech suspends gestures. The painting thus gives a visual form to family education: the book or story connects the characters without the need for dramatic effect.
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#49Doll in the veranda
In Doll in the Veranda, the toy inscribes childhood in a space open to the garden. The uprights of the veranda frame the scene while the outside light penetrates to the figures and objects. Morisot plays on the ambiguity of the title: the doll can be an accessory, but it also redoubles the momentary immobility of the child observed.
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#50Young woman in a straw hat
The large straw hat casts a light shadow on the face and places the model in the world of the outdoors. Morisot contrasts the circular geometry of the headgear with the flexibility of the bust and fabrics. The portrait does not seek pageantry: it captures contemporary fashion and the way in which an accessory immediately modifies the light, attitude and perception of a face.
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See this reproduction →Bougival, Lorient, Nice, the Isle of Wight and the gardens show his art of light.
#51In the garden
In the garden, a close vision favors where foliage, flowers and possible figures overlap without demonstrative depth. The canvas gives the impression of a submerged gaze rather than a landscape contemplated from a distance. Morisot uses reserves and light touches to circulate the air between the shapes, preserving the garden's moving and unfinished character.
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#52White flowers in a bowl
White flowers gathered in a bowl form a still life of deliberately reduced range. Morisot distinguishes the petals of the container and the bottom by small temperature differences rather than by a dark outline. This modest pattern reveals its mastery of colored whites: the composition is due to subtle differences in light, density and material.
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#53The bath
Le Bain shows a woman in a moment of body care, without mythological staging. The close framing, the concentrated gestures and the moving touch keep the model in her activity rather than in a pose. Morisot here joins modern research shared with Degas and Cassatt, but his treatment favors luminous intimacy and a less distant relationship with the female body.
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#54Self-portrait
In his Self-Portrait of 1885, Morisot depicts himself with palette and brushes, clearly affirming his professional identity. The face is precisely constructed while the clothing and background remain more open. At a time when women artists were often presented as amateurs, this image constitutes a sober but firm statement: she first shows herself as a painter at work.
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#55Young woman on the couch
A young woman lies or sits on a couch, in a relaxed posture that escapes the rigidity of the official portrait. The cushions, dress and furniture form large areas of color around the face. Morisot is interested in the momentary abandonment of the body in private space, without transforming the model into an odalisque or an exotic spectacle.
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#56The red bodice
The red bodice acts as the chromatic center of the portrait and imposes its warmth on the rest of the composition. Morisot modulates this large surface area through folds and reflections, then lets the face emerge in a more nuanced range. The garment expresses a concrete modernity: it places the model in its time while serving as colorful architecture for the painting.
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#57The cage
The presence of a cage introduces into the interior a structure of bars, curves and voids which dialogues with the figure. Without imposing a single symbolic reading, the object can evoke the limits of female domestic space. Morisot, however, keeps the image open: the interest is as much on the light passing through the cage as on the silent relationship between the model and the bird.
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#58The lesson in the garden
The Garden Lesson combines learning with an outdoor space. The adult and child are brought together by their common attention, while the foliage prevents the scene from becoming academic or solemn. Morisot shows education as a daily exchange and gives reading or exercise the same visual mobility as the surrounding branches and light.
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#59In the dining room
Painted in 1886 and presented at the last impressionist exhibition under the title Little Servant, In the Dining Room shows a young servant in an apron. The table and the dresser situate his work without locking him into an anecdote. Morisot gives this laborious presence an unusual dignity, while retaining the speed of a silhouette captured between two tasks.
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#60The Child with the Red Apron
The red apron immediately catches the eye and transforms the child's daily clothing into a structuring colored mass. The face and hands remain more delicately modulated, creating a balance between individual presence and pictorial effect. Morisot paints childhood without sentimental decor: the attitude of the model and the intensity of red are enough to give the portrait its energy.
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#61Paule Gobillard in a ball gown
Paule Gobillard, Morisot's niece and herself a future painter, poses in a ball gown. The fabrics signal the entry into social life, but the free touch prevents the outfit from transforming into social armor. The portrait retains this moment of passage between family youth and public representation, with particular attention to the personality of the model behind the costume.
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#62Portrait of Madame Boursier and her daughter
Produced in 1873, the Portrait of Madame Boursier and her daughter involves two ages and two ways of posing. Physical proximity suggests the maternal bond, while differences in outlook and posture preserve the individuality of each person. Morisot thus constructs a double portrait where the relationship matters as much as the resemblance, without resorting to a narrative setting.
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#63Paule Gobillard painting
Paule Gobillard is represented in front of her easel, focused on her own practice. Morisot therefore presents her not only as a niece or a model, but as a young artist in training. Painted in 1887, the work places artistic transmission between women at the heart of the portrait and gives concrete visibility to the learning of painting.
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#64Children at the sink
Two children stand near a basin whose round shape organizes the garden space. Water, stone and light clothing create reflective surfaces that Morisot connects with a bright touch. Painted in 1886, the work avoids the frozen image of childhood: the attitudes and framing suggest an interrupted moment of play or observation.
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#65Louise Riesener
Louise Riesener belongs to the family and artistic circle close to Morisot. His portrait is based on attention to face and attitude rather than on marks of status. The freer touch around the model creates a presence that is both precise and mobile, revealing the confidence that allows the artist to go beyond the conventions of commissioned portraiture.
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#66Young Girl in a Park
A young girl stands out in the middle of a park whose trees and paths remain deliberately flexible. Morisot avoids placing the model in front of an independent background: the colors of the garment are taken up in the vegetation. This continuity makes the portrait an experience of the outdoors, where the identity of the young girl is constructed with place and light.
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#67Orange branches
Orange branches cross the composition and bring together leaves, fruits and Mediterranean light. Morisot does not order them like a bouquet; it retains their irregular growth and their relationship to the tree. The painting is on the border of still life and landscape, the plant motif becoming a way of studying greens, yellows and transparent shadows.
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#68Julie at the table
Julie Manet sat at the table in 1891, in an interior where ordinary objects structure her posture. His mother no longer seeks to paint a little child, but a teenager whose attention seems independent. The table creates a measured distance from the viewer and transforms the family portrait into an observation of a changing age.
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#69Albine Sermicoli at the workshop
Albine Sermicoli is represented in the workshop, a place which associates portraiture with Morisot's artistic practice. The works, frames or decorative objects place the model in a creative space rather than in an anonymous living room. The composition also reveals the sociability of the workshop, where relatives, models and pictorial work meet.
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#70Young girl in a boat with geese
A young girl occupies a boat while geese liven up the water around her. Morisot distributes the white shapes of the birds as mobile accents responding to clothing and reflections. Painted around 1889, the scene associates childhood with outdoor freedom without idealizing it: the boat, the balance of the body and the movement of the animals give the painting its tension.
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#71Under the orange tree
Under the orange tree places a figure in the filtered shadow of a Mediterranean tree. The hanging leaves and fruits modulate the light on the face and clothing, so that the portrait depends entirely on the plant cover. Morisot makes the Nice garden an enveloping space where the figure, far from dominating, shares the composition with the growth of the tree.
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#72In the apple tree
In the apple tree brings a young figure closer to the branches until it mixes its gesture with the network of foliage. The title emphasizes immersion rather than a simple position in front of the tree. Morisot uses this proximity to erase the hierarchies between body and vegetation: color circulates between skin, coat, leaves and fruits, giving the painting an upward movement.
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#73The Flageolets
The Flageolets shows Julie Manet and Jeanne Gobillard playing or holding small flutes in Mézy's garden. Painted around 1890, the scene belongs to Morisot's late research into large decorative compositions. The music is not illustrated by a theatrical effect; it results in the rhythm of the figures, arms and verticals of the garden.
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#74Julie Manet with a parakeet
Julie Manet appears with a parakeet, a familiar animal which introduces an exchange of glances and gestures into the portrait. Morisot avoids the spectacular exotic accessory: the bird simply animates the relationship between the young girl and her environment. The scene bears witness to Julie's transition from childhood to adolescence, observed by her mother through a long series of portraits.
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#75Vase with anemones and bag of sweets
A vase of anemones next to a bag of sweets, an unexpected rapprochement between cut flowers and a consumer object. The colored petals, crumpled paper and the surface of the furniture offer very different materials. Morisot constructs still life without solemn symmetry: its balance is due to the circulation of reds, whites and shadows between familiar things.
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#76The Cherry Tree
The Cherry Tree shows Julie Manet and Jeanne Gobillard picking fruit in Mézy's garden. The scale and gestures form an ambitious framework, nourished by several preparatory studies and by the memory of resurgent compositions. Completed around 1891, this late work proves that Morisot's free touch can support a great constructed setting, and not just a fleeting impression.
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#77Young girl with an apron
The apron identifies a daily activity or a domestic position, but Morisot focuses the portrait on the young girl's attitude. The hands, clothing and gaze give clues without locking the model into a role. The canvas thus grants an individual presence to a figure that worldly painting would have easily reduced to a simple social type.
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#78Jeanne Fourmanoir on the lake
Jeanne Fourmanoir is represented on a lake, in a landscape where water and sky broaden the portrait. The boat imposes an unstable seat and forces the body to tune into the movement of the body of water. Morisot combines the identity of the model with a navigation experience, transforming the pose into a balance between human presence, reflections and distance.
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#79By boat
In On a Boat, the tight framing brings passengers closer to the water and limits shore landmarks. Morisot is interested in the position of the body in the boat, the looks that cross or turn away and the reflections that undo the contours. The modern motif of canoeing becomes a study on mobility: nothing, neither the figures nor the landscape, seems completely fixed.
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#80Young girl braiding her hair
A young girl raises her arms to braid her hair, a daily gesture that structures the entire portrait. The forearms frame the face and shift the balance of the bust, while the hair becomes a painted material in its own right. Morisot chooses action rather than pose, giving the model an autonomy and concentration rarely accorded to conventional female portraits.
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#81Undergrowth in autumn
Undergrowth in autumn organizes the forest by superimposing trunks, red foliage and clearings. The path or gap guides the eye without imposing a geometric perspective. Morisot makes the season felt through colorful material and filtered light: autumn becomes a density of atmosphere rather than a catalog of leaves in local colors.
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#82Young woman and child
A young woman and a child share the same space without being arranged as an official group. The gap between their looks and the proximity of their bodies construct a relationship that is more lived than demonstrative. Morisot paints motherhood or care as a set of ordinary gestures, to which freedom of touch gives a modern scope without idealizing them.
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#83Julie Manet in the Liberty hat
Julie Manet in the Liberty hat is one of the last portraits painted by Morisot, in 1895, the year of his death. The large black hat frames a face left deliberately light, almost in the making. The work condenses an intimate story of twenty years: Julie, long observed as a child, now appears as a young woman under the gaze of her mother.
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#84The Hydrangea
The Hydrangea connects a female figure and a mass of blue or mauve flowers which occupies a significant part of the surface. The petals respond to clothing and complexion, blurring the separation between portrait and still life. Morisot uses the flower not as an emblem, but as a chromatic partner capable of modifying the entire atmosphere of the painting.
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#85The Children of Gabriel Thomas
The children of collector Gabriel Thomas are brought together in a double portrait from 1894. Morisot differentiates their ages and temperaments by postures, clothing and direction of gaze, without resorting to demonstrative accessories. The late work combines a firmer construction of the figures with a still vibrant surface, proof that the commissioned portrait does not extinguish its freedom.
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#86On a bench in the Bois de Boulogne
Two women sitting on a bench in the Bois de Boulogne are seen during a walk, in a public space where people come as much to look as to be seen. Hats and dresses signal urban fashion, while the landscape remains fast. Morisot transforms this social pause into a study of distance, conversation and diverted attention.
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#87Portrait of Jeanne Pontillon
Jeanne Pontillon, niece of the artist, is represented without excessive social apparatus. Morisot knows his model intimately and can let the expression, posture and hesitations of the touch construct the resemblance. The portrait thus retains something of a family encounter while affirming the singularity of a young woman who is not reduced to her kinship.
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#88Two girls
Two young girls are brought together in an interior space whose colors connect their clothes and their faces. Morisot does not arrange them in a mirror: differences in posture and attention prevent the group from becoming decorative. The canvas explores the proximity between adolescent girls, made of shared presence but also of distinct inner worlds.
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#89Nice Beach
Nice Beach dates from the Mediterranean stay of 1881-1882. Morisot observes the shore, walkers and seaside facilities without looking for a bright postcard. The clear touches make the beach both social and atmospheric: a place where new leisure practices meet the wind, sand and glare of the sea.
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#90The hairstyle
In La Coiffure, one woman arranges another's hair, creating a chain of gestures between service, care and bodily proximity. The mirror and arms organize the composition, while the colors of the interior envelop the two figures. Morisot shows behind the scenes of feminine appearance and makes visible the discreet work that precedes social presentation.
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#91Little Marcelle
Little Marcelle is painted at child's height, without decoration intended to tell of a virtue or a game. The face and body position focus attention, while the background remains freer. Morisot treats the model as a present person rather than as a symbol of innocence, letting the expression retain its share of indeterminacy.
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#92The Nephew of Berthe Morisot
Painted in 1876, Le Neveu by Berthe Morisot shows a boy in the family with a frankness that avoids the ceremonial portrait. The clothing and the background are treated more freely than the face, which concentrates the resemblance without freezing the whole. Preserved at the Bordeaux Museum of Fine Arts, the painting illustrates the use of the family circle as a modern portrait laboratory.
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#93Young girl in a green coat
The green coat gives the portrait its dominance and places the young girl in contemporary fashion. Morisot contrasts this colorful surface with the delicacy of the face, making the garment a construction rather than a simple detail. The restrained expression and the unnarrative background keep the identity of the model open, far from the edifying portraits of childhood.
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#94A quay in Lorient
A quay in Lorient reduces the port to a few decisive elements: strip of land, water, boats and horizon. The small scale of the motif forces Morisot to simplify the shapes and give great importance to color ratios. This view belongs to the maritime research of his youth, when direct observation of the coastline helped him to release his touch.
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#95Young woman in ball gown
A young woman in ball gown is seized before or after the social event, when the dress remains spectacular but the attitude becomes personal again. Morisot is interested in this tension between public costume and interior presence. Light fabrics diffuse light around the face, giving the portrait an elegance that does not depend on luxurious decor.
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#96Pasie sewing in Bougival's garden
Pasie sewing in Bougival's garden combines patient activity with outdoor mobility. The hands and the work form the precise core of the scene, while the grass and foliage remain freer. Morisot does not choose between portrait, work scene and landscape: she holds these three dimensions together in the same moment of attention.
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#97Julie Manet and her doggy style Laërte
Julie Manet sits with her doggy style Laërte in an 1893 portrait kept at the Marmottan Monet museum. The elongated silhouette of the dog responds to the young girl's posture and gives the group emotional stability. Morisot paints here a familiar relationship, but also the growing confidence of Julie, who has become almost an adult after having been his model since the cradle.
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#98The Seine at Bougival
The Seine at Bougival shows the river from one of Morisot's favorite vacation spots. The banks, boats and reflections are simplified to maintain the feeling of luminous circulation. The landscape is not wild: it belongs to the modern network of Parisian walks and leisure activities, but the touch gives it an instability that human planning does not control.
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#99Portrait of Madame Pontillon, or Young Woman at her window
Madame Pontillon, sister of the artist, is represented near a window in 1869. The frame opens the interior to the exterior, but the figure remains absorbed in its own space. This device gives the portrait a particular tension: Edma is both close and inaccessible, familiar to the painter but offered to the viewer in a moment of withdrawal.
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#100Portrait of a woman
This Portrait of a Woman is based on a direct confrontation between the face, the clothing and a sober background. In the absence of a solidly documented identity, we must resist the desire to invent a biography for the model. The interest of the canvas lies precisely in what Morisot makes visible: an attitude, a fashion, a quality of light and an individual presence that goes beyond the name.
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Three selection criteria
The selection favors works painted by Berthe Morisot, the most famous images, the diversity of subjects and active Alpha sheets without visible duplicates.
Major works
The paintings that summarize her impressionism: maternity, outdoors, ports, gardens and interiors.
Diversity
Figures, landscapes, children, portraits, flowers, still lifes and scenes from modern life.
Anti-duplicate control
Obvious title or image variations are discarded to keep 100 separate entries.
Sources and links
A selection built from the store
The images refer to the corresponding Alpha Reproduction files. The titles, dates, techniques, collections and historical facts have been cross-checked with the catalogs of the holding museums and the institutional bases.
Frequently asked questions
Read Berthe Morisot
Some references on the artist, the works and the method.
Why is Berthe Morisot essential?
Because she is one of the great figures of Impressionism and she gave interiors, gardens, women, children and modern stages a decisive freedom of touch.
Does the ranking use Alpha products?
Yes. All 100 entries use active Alpha Reproduction cards with public image and URL.
Why so many family scenes?
Because Morisot transforms these intimate subjects into true impressionist laboratories: light, framing, gesture and modernity are essential.
Is there a slideshow?
No. The page is static to keep the 100 cards visible and easy to control.
Are Manet's portraits of Morisot included?
No. The selection includes paintings painted by Berthe Morisot, not portraits of the artist made by other painters.
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