Berthe Morisot, alongside American artist Mary Cassatt, stands as one of the few female painters who successfully established herself in the world of Impressionist art in the late 19th century. With a determined character, she defied social conventions by choosing to dedicate herself to painting rather than follow the traditional path of marriage and motherhood expected for young women of her social status. She met Manet in 1868 and married his brother Eugène Manet in 1874.
As the École des Beaux-arts did not admit women as students at the time, her parents financed her private artistic education. However, this curriculum did not align with her artistic style. Encouraged by fellow artists like Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, she opted for a brighter painting style. Frequently using family members, such as her sister, nieces and nephews, and later her daughter Julie Manet, as models, she created portraits and intimate scenes with a refreshing quality.
Berthe Morisot was a rebellious figure within the artistic avant-garde, admired by her contemporaries, including Édouard Manet, with whom she occasionally collaborated and who painted several portraits of her. In an era when female artists were still viewed with suspicion, she co-founded the Société anonyme des artistes peintres, sculpteurs et graveurs with Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, and Degas. This group organized independent exhibitions between 1874 and 1886 in opposition to the official Salon, the primary venue for contemporary art. Despite support from many artists, Berthe Morisot unsettled much of the critics, primarily due to the increasingly bold nature of her art but more significantly because she was a woman. It wasn't until the last quarter of the 20th century that her work gained full recognition. In 1894, the French state acquired one of her paintings, "Jeune femme en toilette de bal," a year before the artist's sudden death at the age of 54. Long considered the iconic female figure of the Impressionists, Berthe Morisot was fully rehabilitated only in the late 20th century. In this painting, she portrayed Jeanne Pontillon, the eldest daughter of Edma Pontillon née Morisot, Berthe's older sister. Jeanne had been painted by her aunt in several works, and here, she is captured in a relaxed pose, her gaze expressing a certain reverie. Berthe Morisot's skill in handling pastels is reflected in the lightness and power of her brushstroke, as well as in the subtlety of her management of light and shades of colors ranging from brown-green to pink and orange. Although the overall appearance seems to have been created quickly, the face is finely detailed.
The painting of Jeanne Potillon has just been given in 2016 to the Musée d'Art et d'histoire in Geneva, Switzerland (inventory n.BA2016-0012-dt)