At about the time that Morisot depicted this model in her Paris apartment, an admiring critic wrote: "she grinds flower petals onto her palette, in order to spread them later on her canvas with airy, witty touches . . . producing something vital, fine, and charming." The painter was then at her apogee, having developed a signature style that updated the bravura brushwork of her brother-in-law Edouard Manet with more spirited handling and opalescent tints. She enjoyed a highly successful career, participating in the official Salons and in seven of the eight Impressionist exhibitions.
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Credit Line:Partial and Promised Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Dillon, 1992
Accession Number:1992.103.2
Inscription: Signed (lower left): Berthe Morisot
Léon Clapisson, Paris (by 1882–92; sold on April 21, 1892, for Fr 1,500 to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1892–95; stock no. 2134; sold in January 1895 to New York branch]; [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1895–96; stock no. 1332; sold on June 16, 1896 to Paris branch]; [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1896–at least 1921; stock no. 3860; to Durand-Ruel]; Durand-Ruel private collection, Paris (by 1941–at least 1958); [Sam Salz, New York]; Douglas and Phyllis Dillon, New York (1976–her d. 1982); Douglas and Susan Dillon (1983–92; jointly with The Met, 1992–his d. 2003; her d. 2019)
New York. Woman's Art Club, Klackner's Gallery. February 17, 1895 probably as "Jeune Femme Assise" (lent by Durand-Ruel) [see The Art Amateur 1895, The Critic 1895, Walker 1895, Patry 2018, and Notes].
Paris. Durand-Ruel. "Exposition Berthe Morisot," April 23–May 10, 1902, no. 58 (as "Jeune femme assise," possibly this picture).
London. Grafton Galleries. "Pictures by Boudin, Cézanne, Degas, Manet...," January–February 1905, no. 158 (lent by Durand-Ruel, Paris).
Paris. Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées. "Salon d'automne," October 1–22, 1907, no. 161 (in the "Exposition Rétrospective d'Oeuvres de Berthe Morisot," as "Intérieur," lent by M. Durand-Ruel).
Paris. Galerie Marcel Bernheim. "Réunion d'œuvres par Berthe Morisot (1841–1895)," June 20–July 8, 1922, no. 43.
Paris. Bernheim-Jeune. "Exposition d'œuvres de Berthe Morisot," May 6–24, 1929, no. 18 (lent by Durand-Ruel).
Paris. Galerie Durand-Ruel. "Quelques oeuvres importantes de Manet à Van Gogh," February–March 1932, no. 30.
Brussels. Palais des Beaux-Arts. "L'Impressionnisme," June 15–September 29, 1935, no. 48 (lent by Durand-Ruel, Paris).
Belgrade. Musée du Prince Paul. "La peinture française au XIXe siècle," 1939, no. 85 (lent by Durand-Ruel, Paris).
Paris. Musée de l'Orangerie. "Berthe Morisot (1841–1895)," Summer 1941, no. 25 (lent by Durand-Ruel).
Paris. Bernheim-Jeune. "Exposition de la femme, 1800–1930," April–June 1948, no. 65.
Copenhagen. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. "Berthe Morisot, 1841–1895," August 20–September 18, 1949, no. 16 (lent by Durand-Ruel, Paris).
London. Matthiesen Gallery. "Berthe Morisot: An Exhibition of Paintings & Drawings," 1950, no. 17.
Musée de Dieppe. "Exposition Berthe Morisot," July 5–September 30, 1957, no. 16 (lent by Durand-Ruel, Paris).
Albi. Musée Toulouse-Lautrec. "Exposition Berthe Morisot (1841–1895)," July 1–September 15, 1958, no. 14 (lent by Durand-Ruel, Paris).
New York. Wildenstein & Co., Inc. "Berthe Morisot," November 3–December 10, 1960, no. 18.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 96.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.
Paris. Musée Marmottan. "Berthe Morisot 1841–1895," March 8–July 29, 2012, no. 27 (as "Jeune femme assise" and dated 1879).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity," February 26–May 7, 2013, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Public Parks, Private Gardens: Paris to Provence," March 12–July 29, 2018, unnumbered cat.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Berthe Morisot, Woman Impressionist," February 24–May 26, 2019, no. 41.
Léon Clapisson. Collection de tableaux de Léon Clapisson – commencée en mars 1879. 1879–94 [private collection; published in Distel 1997], in this handwritten inventory of his collection, calls it "Jeune femme grise (or assise)" and gives purchase price as Fr 1,000.
Léon Clapisson. Catalogue des tableaux de la collection de Mr L. Clapisson 1882. 1879–94 [private collection; published in Distel 1997], in this handwritten inventory of his collection, calls it "Jeune femme assise sur un canapé" and gives purchase price as Fr 1,000.
"The Woman's Art Club Exhibition." The Critic: A Weekly Review of Literature and the Arts (February 16, 1895), p. 129, notes the inclusion of Morisot's "Jeune Femme Assise," a "piquant but sketchily painted arrangement in greys and ochres," probably this painting.
Sophia Antoinette Walker. "Fine Arts: The Woman's Art Club and Other Topics." The Independent 47 (February 21, 1895), p. 7, mistakes Morisot's husband for Edouard Manet and criticizes one of her paintings in the Woman's Art Club exhibition, stating "her 'Woman' will drop to pieces with the roses beside her," probably The Met's picture.
"Exhibition of the Woman's Art Club." The Art Amateur 32 (March 1895), p. 106, describes Madame Manet's (Berthe Morisot's) "Jeune Femme Assise" as "all in silvery grays and dull ochreous tints, relieved by the green leaves and pink flowers of an hydrangea" and calls it "a charming bit of impressionism"; states that Morisot's contributions to the exhibition were lent by Durand-Ruel & Company.
Camille Mauclair. The French Impressionists (1860–1900). London, [1903], p. 153, ill.
Léonce Bénédite. "Of Women Painters in France." Women Painters of the World, from the Time of Caterina Vigri, 1413–1463, to Rosa Bonheur and the Present Day. Ed. Walter Shaw Sparrow. London, 1905, ill. p. 211, calls it "Portrait of a Young Woman Seated".
Roger Marx. "Les femmes peintres et l'impressionisme. — Berthe Morisot." Gazette des beaux-arts 38 (December 1, 1907), p. 503, ill.
Vittorio Pica. "Artisti contemporanei: Berthe Morisot — Mary Cassatt." Emporium 26 (July 1907), p. 11, ill.
Vittorio Pica. Gl'impressionisti francesi. Bergamo, 1908, p. 163, ill.
Charles Louis Borgmeyer. The Master Impressionists. Chicago, 1913, p. 236, ill., incorrectly states that it was exhibited at the Galerie Manzi in 1912.
Quelques oeuvres importantes de Manet à Van Gogh. Exh. cat., Galerie Durand-Ruel. Paris, 1932, p. 14, no. 30, ill. p. 7, call it "Jeune femme assise" and date it 1882.
Berthe Morisot (1841–1895). Exh. cat., Musée de l'Orangerie. Paris, 1941, p. 8, no. 25, ill., dates it 1879.
Exposition de la femme: 1800–1930. Exh. cat., Bernheim-Jeune. 1948, p. 30, no. 65, dates it 1882.
Denis Rouart. Berthe Morisot, 1841–1895. Paris, 1948, unpaginated, no. 28, ill., as "Femme assise devant une fenêtre"; dates it 1879.
Berthe Morisot, 1841–1895. Exh. cat., Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Copenhagen, 1949, p. 12, no. 16, dates it 1879.
Denis Rouart. Berthe Morisot: An Exhibition of Paintings & Drawings. Exh. cat., Matthiesen Gallery. 1950, pp. 4, 11, no. 17, pl. IV, dates it 1879.
Exposition Berthe Morisot. Exh. cat., Musée de Dieppe. Dieppe, 1957, p. 2, no. 16, ill., dates it 1879.
Exposition Berthe Morisot (1841–1895). Exh. cat., Musée Toulouse-Lautrec. Albi, 1958, p. 27, no. 14, pl. VII, dates it 1879.
Jerome Mellquist. "Berthe Morisot." Apollo 70 (December 1959), p. 158, fig. 1.
M[arie].-L[ouise]. Bataille and G[eorges]. Wildenstein. Berthe Morisot: Catalogue des peintures, pastels, et aquarelles. Paris, 1961, pp. 9, 28, no. 78, pl. 44., as in the Clapisson collection; date it 1879 and provide some exhibition information.
Berthe Morisot. Exh. cat., Musée Jenisch. Vevey, Switzerland, 1961, p. 8, no. 18, dates it 1879.
"An Impressionist who Loved Children: Berthe Morisot." Illustrated London News 238 (January 21, 1961), p. 107, ill., comments that it is an example of the artist's technique of using free brushstrokes in different directions.
Charles F. Stuckey in Charles F. Stuckey and William P. Scott. Berthe Morisot, Impressionist. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1987, pp. 78, 80, fig. 51, dates it 1878–79, noting the difficulty in dating works from this period, but remarks that the balcony setting with venetian blinds corresponds to those in her avenue Victor Hugo apartment, found in this and "Behind the Blinds," both of which are compared to Millais's "Hearts are Trumps" (Tate Britain, London) of 1878.
Ronald G. Pisano. One Hundred Years: A Centennial Celebration of the National Association of Women Artists. Exh. cat., Nassau County Museum of Fine Art. Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., 1988, p. 9, mentions Morisot's "Jeune Femme Assise," probably this painting, among the paintings on view in the annual exhibition the author mistakenly dates to 1894 [see New York 1895 and Notes].
Gary Tinterow in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1991–1992." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 50 (Fall 1992), p. 49, ill. (color), remarks that the artist was at her apogee when she painted this model in her Paris apartment; comments that she had melded Manet's bravura brushwork with her own opalescent palette.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 485, ill. p. 486.
Alain Clairet, Delphine Montalant, and Yves Rouart. Berthe Morisot, 1841–1895: Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint. Montolivet, 1997, p. 151, no. 78, ill.
Anne Distel in Colin B. Bailey. Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. New Haven, 1997, pp. 83, 353, identifies it as a work included in two inventories of Léon Clapisson's collection.
Sylvie Patry inBerthe Morisot, 1841–1895. Exh. cat., Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille. Martigny, 2002, p. 186.
Charles Harrison. Painting the Difference: Sex and Spectator in Modern Art. Chicago, 2005, p. 133, fig. 98, observes that the young woman has "the aspect of a particular known individual, while the space that opens up behind her has the specificity of a familiar location".
Gary Tinterow inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 134, 243–44, no. 96, ill. (color and black and white).
Marianne Mathieu inBerthe Morisot 1841–1895. Exh. cat., Musée Marmottan Monet. Paris, 2012, pp. 106–7, no. 27, ill. (color) [English ed., 2012], calls it "Jeune femme assise" and dates it 1879; states that Morisot painted the picture in her apartment at 9 avenue d'Eylau in Paris, noting that the Venetian blinds depicted match those in the Eylau apartment (as opposed to the location identified in Stuckey and Scott 1987); discusses Clapisson's ownership of the painting.
Colta Ives. Public Parks, Private Gardens: Paris to Provence. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2018, pp. 119, 186, fig. 116 (color), identifies the flowers behind the figure as roses and hydrangeas.
Sylvie Patry inBerthe Morisot: Woman Impressionist. Exh. cat., Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec. New York, 2018, pp. 15, 30, 51 n. 64, p. 231 n. 61, p. 232, no. 41, states that the Woman's Art Club exhibition (see Notes) is more likely to have occurred in February to March of 1895 and that this painting was probably the picture by Morisot included in the show as "Jeune fille assise," based on contemporary criticism.
Nicole R. Myers inBerthe Morisot: Woman Impressionist. Exh. cat., Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec. New York, 2018, p. 78.
Cindy Kang inBerthe Morisot: Woman Impressionist. Exh. cat., Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec. New York, 2018, pp. 126, 145 n. 16, ill. p. 127 (color), states that the artist depicted the same sofa in "The Mirror (La Psyché) (1876, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid) and "Daydreaming" (1877, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City) and the same drawn Venetian blinds in "Behind the Blinds" (ca. 1879, Mr. and Mrs. Moreton Binn collection, United States).
Sylvie Patry inBerthe Morisot. Ed. Sylvie Patry. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2019, pp. 13, 26, 292 n. 61, p. 293, no. 73, ill. p. 141 (color).
Nicole R. Myers inBerthe Morisot. Ed. Sylvie Patry. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2019, p. 180.
Cindy Kang inBerthe Morisot. Ed. Sylvie Patry. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2019, p. 204.
Claire Moran. "Berthe Morisot, Early Impressionist Criticism, and the Aesthetics of the Plein-Air Interior." Nonsite.org no. 46 (May 19, 2024), unpaginated, fig. 7 (color) [https://nonsite.org/berthe-morisot-early-impressionist-criticism-and-the-aesthetics-of-the-plein-air-interior/].
Ronald G. Pisano first noted that a painting by Morisot entitled Jeune Femme Assise was included in an annual exhibition of the Woman’s Art Club of New York, the group founded in 1889, which later changed its name to the National Association of Women Artists (One Hundred Years: A Centennial Celebration of the National Association of Women Artists, exh. cat., Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., 1988, p. 9; and see Donna Gustafson, A Parallel Presence: National Association of Women Artists, 1889–2009, exh. cat., Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, The State University of New Jersey, Rutgers, 2009, unpaginated). Pisano mistakenly identified the exhibition in which Morisot participated alongside Mary Cassatt as taking place in 1894. All of the criticism related to this exhibition dates from February 1895. In particular, Walker 1895 and The Art Amateur 1895 clarify not only that it is probable that the Morisot picture included was Young Woman Seated on a Sofa, with the sitter attended by roses and a light pink hydrangea, but also that the exhibition took place in 1895, when we know Cassatt’s In the Loge (1878, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) to have been included in a Woman’s Art Club exhibition at Klackner’s Gallery as no. 17 (Dans la loge) (see Kevin Sharp and Jonathan Stuhlman in Judith A. Barter, ed., Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman [Chicago, 1998], pp. 318 [under no. 17], 357). Unfortunately, no copy has been found of the 1895 exhibition catalogue; for the date of the exhibition as February 17, 1895, see Sharp in Barter 1998, p. 357. The archives of Durand-Ruel indicate that ownership of The Met's picture was transferred from the dealer’s Paris branch to the New York branch in January 1895 (see Provenance), but provide no further details about the painting’s precise whereabouts at the time of the exhibition.
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