Morisot, Berthe (1841-1895)
La soeur de l’artiste à la fenêtre (The Artist’s Sister at a Window)
1869
Oil on canvas, 54.8 x 46.3 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington
A young woman with pale peach skin and light brown hair sits in profile facing our left in an upholstered chair in this vertical painting. The chair and woman take up most of the composition so seems close to us. She wears a long-sleeved white dress that sweeps to the floor, with black ribbons around her neck and atop her shoulder-length ringlets. The dress has small ruffles at her throat and a deep flounce at the bottom. She gazes down at the partially open fan she holds on her lap. The fan is touched with spots of pumpkin orange, plum purple, and royal blue on a beige background. Loose, swirling brushstrokes in golden tan and bright white against an ivory background suggest that the chair is upholstered with a floral-patterned fabric. A wooden desk or table is pushed against the wall behind the woman to our right and to our left, a white door, covered by a white curtain, opens onto a balcony with a wrought iron railing. Across the street, a couple of people lean out of open windows covered by turquoise-blue awnings on a cream-colored building. (NGA)
See also:
• Morisot, Edma (1839-1921)