Portrait of Berthe Morisot with a Fan - Édouard Manet

Helen Regenstein Collection

European Art Modern Art Paintings Prints

"Portrait of Berthe Morisot with a Fan" by Édouard Manet (1874) Watercolor over traces of graphite on cream wove paper.

Commentary

"Portrait of Berthe Morisot with a Fan" by Édouard Manet (1874) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. Its painted surface guides your eye through color, brushwork, and contrast rather than through narrativ e alone. Themes to notice include Impressionism, watercolor. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings collection. Édouard Manet is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Édouard Manet French, 1832-1883. The work is cataloged within a France cultural context. It is associated with the Impressionism period. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as watercolor, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Watercolor over traces of graphite on cream wove paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (20.9 × 16.8 cm (8 1/4 × 6 5/8 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include Impressionism, watercolor. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/18667

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data