Berthe Morisot is celebrated as a founding member of the Impressionists and the only woman to be part of their first exhibition of 1874 (‘Première exposition’ of the Société anonyme) alongside Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, Sisley and Cézanne. Born in Bourges France in 1841, she moved with her family to Paris as a child. Aged sixteen and in the heart of avant-garde painting, she first took lessons in drawing before moving on to work in watercolour, pastel and oil.

Morisot’s true immersion in art came from the artwork and people of the Louvre. She spent much time analysing the works of Titian, Rubens and Veronese in the museum. It was there that she became acquainted with other artists, including Corot, who transformed her approach to painting by exposing her to contemporary ideas on naturalism and working en plein air. Most famously, it was at the Louvre that she met Edouard Manet while both were copying the paintings on display. The two had an intense and complex artistic relationship, as well as a close friendship, with Morisot later marrying Manet’s brother Eugène. On a number of occasions Morisot acted as a muse for Manet, including in his seminal 1868 painting ‘Le Balcon’ in which she is depicted seated on the left.

Women and children largely within interiors or gardens were a favourite subject for Morisot. ‘Jeune fille au manteau vert’ is one of two sketches of the same title, depicting Marthe Givaudan, the model Morisot used regularly at the end of her career, within a domestic setting. Dressed in a fine green coat Marthe stands before two impressive paintings, one a portrait the other a boat scene. Potentially set in her own home, Morisot herself had a wonderful collection of art including Monet’s ‘Ships under repair’, 1873 which is now in the collection of the National Galleries of Art, Scotland.

Watercolours were an integral part of Morisot’s oeuvre, acting both as en plein air sketches and finished compositions. Female artists such as Morisot played an incredibly important role in transforming the notion of watercolours being a gentile ‘feminine’ hobby to being considered a serious art form. For female painters of the period, who had restricted access to the Academy and formal tuition at an art school, watercolour was a means of artistic experimentation that did not require a studio, expensive materials or training.