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For Berthe Morisot Page

Personal life[edit]
Morisot came from an eminent family, the daughter of a government official and the granddaughter of a famous Rococo artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard. She met her longtime friend and colleague, Édouard Manet, in 1868. By the introduction of Manet, Morisot was married to Édouard's brother, Eugène Manet in 1874. In 1878 she gave birth to her only child, Julie, who posed frequently for her mother and other Impressionist artists, including Renoir and her uncle Édouard. Morisot had a close relationship with Édouard Manet who exerted a tremendous influence on her. Correspondence between them shows warm affection, and Manet gave her an easel as a Christmas present. Morisot often posed for Manet and there are several portrait painting of Morisot such as Repose (Portrait of Berthe Morisot) and Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet. Morisot died on March 2, 1895, in Paris, of pneumonia contracted while attending to her daughter Julie's similar illness, and thus making her an orphan at the age of 16. She was interred in the Cimetière de Passy.

Women in Impressionism[edit]
The French originating Impressionist movement of the twentieth century was predominantly male driven, which caused difficulty for female artists trying to make their presence. The dominance of male artists was presented through hurdles of societal restrictions on women in France as well as the largely male dominated roots of realism, from artists like Courbet and Corot, that inspired this style. Female artists like Morisot and her colleagues Cassatt and Bracquemond, were subject to gender restricted entry into bars and cafés, the most notable subjects of Impressionist art. The Impressionists' paintings conveyed the visual experience of the artists' reality; restriction of female entry to social locations narrowed the subjects that women artists could paint.

Morisot began to paint of more 'feminine' subjects like portraits, landscapes, and visual accounts of her family. Portraiture dominated the market for Impressionist women, as they were highly commissioned pieces. Landscapes, a subject matter that was still largely in 'male territory' was givn