Édouard Manet - Berthe Morisot with a bouquet of violets 1872

The Port of Bordeaux 1871 Young Woman in Oriental Garb 1871 A veiled young woman 1872 Berthe Morisot with a bouquet of violets 1872 Berthe Morisot with a Fan 1872 Bouquet of violets 1872 Brunette with bare breasts 1872
Berthe Morisot with a bouquet of violets 1872

Berthe Morisot with a bouquet of violets 1872
55x39cm oil/canvas
Museum d'Orsay, Paris, France

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From Museum d'Orsay, Paris:
Rather than using the uniform light he often employed in his portraits, Manet chose here to light his model vividly from the side so that Berthe Morisot's face seems to be all light and shadow. Here represented with black eyes (in fact they were green), she is dressed all in black, with a matching hat, no doubt better to enhance her "Spanish" beauty remarked on since her first appearance in Manet's work in 1869.
This sublime composition in blacks is yet another confirmation of Manet's virtuosity. But he may also have been using the work to impart a lesson to his young disciple, reminding her of the stunning possibilities of black at a time when her own painting was becoming lighter and lighter in tone as she followed the path to Impressionism.