White Flowers in a Bowl

Berthe Morisot (French, 1841–1895)

1885

Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas

Dimensions46 x 55 cm (18 1/8 x 21 5/8 in.)

Credit LineBequest of John T. Spaulding

Accession number48.581

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

Although flowers are frequently included in Berthe Morisot’s portraits and interiors, still lifes make up only a small percentage of her work. White Flowers in a Bowl demonstrates the spontaneity associated with her late style. Morisot describes the forms of the bowl, pitcher, and bouquet with a thickly loaded brush, employing a loose, fluent touch. The quick, short strokes used for the flower petals convey the soft, dense quality of the white blooms, traditionally identified as Reines-Marguerites (an aster varietal). Morisot leaves peripheral sections of the unprimed canvas visible, emphasizing the unpremeditated appearance of her composition.

InscriptionsLower left: B Morisot

Provenance1896, with Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris [see note 1]. Octave Mirbeau (b. 1850 - d. 1917), Paris; February 24, 1919, posthumous Mirbeau sale, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, lot 28. 1925, Durand-Ruel, New York (stock no. 8172); February 7, 1925, sold by Durand-Ruel to John Taylor Spaulding (b. 1870 - d. 1948), Boston; 1948, bequest of John Taylor Spaulding to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 3, 1948)

NOTES:
[1] Included in the exhibition "Berthe Morisot (Madame Eugène Manet): Exposition de son oeuvre" (Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, March 5-21, 1896), cat. no. 161 ("Reines- Marguerites")