Arcadópolis
Peonies
Berthe Morisot, c. 1869
What you see
A stemmed glass on a brown table holds a few peonies. The largest, fully open and soft pink, leans to the left; above it rises another pink bloom, half open, and on the left are two buds, one streaked with red and one dark. The glass stands just right of center and balances the large flower.
The gray-green background is brushed in broad, crisscrossing strokes. The peonies are thick touches of pink and white, and the glass is suggested with a few white highlights. Don’t miss the fallen petals on the table at lower left, and for the bottom strip, where bare canvas and a black zigzag line show through.
About Berthe Morisot
Berthe Morisot was a French painter and one of the founders of the Impressionist group: she took part in seven of its eight exhibitions, between 1874 and 1886. With quick, light brushstrokes she painted intimate scenes from the lives of the women around her, such as her mother, her sister Edma and her daughter Julie. She was married to Eugène Manet, brother of the painter Édouard Manet, and in 1896, a year after her death, the Durand-Ruel gallery held a large exhibition of her work in Paris.
More by Berthe Morisot
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