Portrait of Mme Boursier and Her Daughter (Portrait de Mme Boursier et de sa fille)

Berthe Morisot came from a well-to-do family, and her paintings reflect an essentially urban, bourgeois vision of the world. Unable to respectably patronize the evening entertainment venues her male counterparts frequently depicted, she focused on upper-class domestic spaces and the activities typically associated with modern Parisian women. The sitters in this portrait are the artist’s cousins, posed together on a social visit in a room well appointed with floral upholstery, a piano and sheet music, a mirror, and a vase of flowers. Both are fashionably dressed—the mother in a black day ensemble that emphasizes the whiteness of her skin and a hat trimmed with ostrich feathers (which were sourced from Africa at this time), and her daughter in a trimmed jacket with flowers or ribbons in her hair. Quick, unblended brushstrokes summarily define the scene while simultaneously foregrounding the materiality of paint itself.

Morisot was a core member of the group of mid-nineteenth-century artists who began to explore themes of contemporary life and leisure using loose brushwork and bright colors to capture the experience of vision and the fleeting effects of light. They came to be known as Impressionists and organized eight independent exhibitions between 1874 and 1886 to promote their art.