In 1873, Berthe Morisot was at something of a crossroads. She was making a name for herself as an artist and had exhibited in the Paris Salons, but as a thirty-something woman of her era, she felt a certain obligation to marry and have children. Yet as a woman hoping to have a career as a painter, she knew that her artwork would demand a great deal of time and energy—and she did not want to give up her creative life in order to fulfill her role as a wife and mother.
Berthe and The Manets
The strikingly attractive Morisot had her share of admirers, including artist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. She was also close friends with the brilliant Édouard Manet, working with him in his studio and occasionally posing for him as a model. Her relationship with Manet was indeed artistically grounded, but there was reportedly a deeper attraction between the pair. Manet was already married, however, and perhaps in the long run Édouard might have been too domineering and not likely to let Berthe fully develop her own artistic style.
Beyond Manet, however, Berthe had formed another promising friendship with Édouard’s younger brother Eugène. Eugène was intelligent and creatively inclined himself toward writing and painting, but he had a calmer nature than the intense Édouard. Furthermore, Eugène wholly supported Berthe’s artistic aspirations. The couple married in late December of 1874, and nearly four years later Berthe gave birth to her first and only child, a little girl as “sweet as an angel” whom she would name Julie.
Julie Manet
As a child born into the French Impressionist circle, Julie Manet became the subject of several paintings, including works by her uncle Édouard Manet and family friend Pierre Auguste Renoir. Her mother Berthe was naturally the creator of the most portraits, following Julie from babydom to girlhood, with loving views of her daughter being held by her wet nurse, reading, daydreaming, or posing with her pets (including Laertes the greyhound, a gift to the family from poet Stéphane Mallarmé ).
The affection behind these gently-hued paintings is clear, and they are also a testament to Berthe’s ability to continue her artistic career after her marriage—something which many women, including Berthe’s own sister Edma, were not able to do. Ironically, one of Berthe Morisot’s best-known works, the 1872 The Cradle, is not of her own daughter Julie but instead features Edma and her baby in a tender mother and child moment.
The death of Eugène Manet in 1892 greatly affected Berthe Morisot, who also began to suffer from health problems. When Julie became seriously ill with the flu three years later, Berthe kept a vigil at her daughter’s bedside until she was cured. Tragically, Berthe also caught the flu; the sickness escalated into a fatal form of pneumonia and she died in March of 1895 at the age of fifty-four.
Mother and Daughter Legacy
Berthe’s final wishes named Renoir and Mallarmé as Julie’s guardians, since Julie was only sixteen when her mother passed away. Julie herself would eventually wed Ernest Rouart, another artist, and her diaries up until her marriage were published in 1987, offering a unique insight into her charmed family life. Julie also made it a point throughout her own life to rightfully champion her mother’s artwork and keep her from being overshadowed by her fellow male French Impressionists.
Sources
- The Private Lives of the Impressionists -- Sue Roe (HarperCollins Publishers, 2006)
- Berthe Morisot -- National Museum of Women in the Arts
