Berthe Morisot Enter a
feeling, not
a gallery.
Choose a mood and the room itself answers — the light cools or warms, the air changes pace, and only the works that carry that feeling step forward from the dark. Everything else recedes into shadow.
Berthe Morisot
Early Life, Family and Artistic Training Berthe Morisot was born on 14 January 1841 in Bourges, France. She grew up in an affluent bourgeois family where the lines between domestic life and art were often blurred. Her father, Edmé Tiburce Morisot, held the position of prefect of the department of Cher. Her mother, Marie-Joseph-Cornélie Thomas, brought a connection to the Rococo tradition as the great-niece of Jean-Honoré Fragonard. This
lineage provided a backdrop of artistic familiarity from her earliest years. Her training began with private lessons from Geoffroy-Alphonse Chocarne and Joseph Guichard. By 1858, she was spending her time in the Louvre, learning the mechanics of paint by copying the Old Masters. This period of study was supplemented by the guidance of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Achille-Francois Oudinot. During the winter of 1863–64, she also tur…