Berthe Morisot
French, 1841–1895
Dahlias
1876
Morisot rarely painted still lifes, and she subverts the conventions of the genre in this image. A large vase dominates the composition, pushing the flowers to the top of the canvas. Shown from above and positioned slightly off center, the arrangement sits next to a half-open fan on a polished tabletop. Though Morisot did not exhibit Dahlias, her fellow Impressionists included the painting in a memorial exhibition after her death in 1895.
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 18 x 22 in. (45.7 x 55.9 cm) Frame: 27 1/4 x 30 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (69.2 x 78.1 x 7 cm) |
| Object Number | 1974.28 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by the Clark, 1974 |
| Status | On View |
Image Caption
Berthe Morisot, Dahlias, 1876, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, Acquired by the Clark, 1974.28
Select Bibliography
Jeffrey E. Thompson. At Home with the Impressionists: Masterpieces of French Still-Life Painting. New York: Universe Publishing. 2001.
Rathbone, Eliza E., and George T.M. Shackelford. Impressionist Still Life. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with The Phillips Collection, 2001.
Paris: Galerie Durand-Ruel.. Berthe Morisot.. March 5-23, 1896..
Paris: Galerie Durand-Ruel.. Berthe Morisot.. April 23-May 10, 1902..
Paris: Salon d'automne.. Exposition retrospective d'oeuvres de Berthe Morisot.. Oct. 1-22, 1907..
Paris: Galerie Marcel Bernheim.. Réunion d'oeuvres par Berthe Morisot.. June 20-July 8, 1922..
London: Leicester Galleries.. Berthe Morisot.. March-April, 1930..
Paris: Galerie Durand-Ruel.. Fleurs et natures mortes, école contemporaine.. Dec. 5-19, 1931..
Paris: Galerie Charpentier.. Les fleurs et les fruits depuis le Romantisme.. 1942-43..
Geneva: Galerie Motte.. Exposition Berthe Morisot.. June 12-30, 1951..
Paris: Musée de l'Orangerie.. La nature morte de l'antiquité à nos jours.. April-June 1952..
Rotterdam: Museum Boymans.. Vier Eeuwen Stilleven in Frankrijk.. July 10-Sept. 20, 1954..
Saint-Etienne: Musée d'art et d'Industrie.. Natures mortes de Géricault à nos jours.. 1955..
Dieppe: Musée de Dieppe.. Exposition Berthe Morisot.. July-Sept., 1957..
. Exposition Berthe Morisot: Peintures, Aquarelles, Dessins. Albi: Musée Toulouse-Lautrec. July 1-Sept. 15, 1958..
Paris: Musée Jacquemart-André.. Berthe Morisot.. n.d. [1961]..
Berthe Morisot. [Exposition] du 24 juin au 3 septembre. Musée Jenisch, Vevey: 1961.
. Berthe Morisot. Aix-en-Provence: Galerie Lucien Blanc. July 6-28, 1962..
Paris: Galerie Daber.. La joie de peindre, de Corot à Vuillard... June-July 1974..
Monique Angoulvent.. Berthe Morisot.. Paris: Editions Albert Morance.. 1933..
Louis Rouart.. Berthe Morisot. Paris: Plon.. 1941..
Peter Mitchell.. Great Flower Painters: Four Centuries of Floral Art.. Woodstock (NY): Overlook Press.. 1973..
Anonymous. "La Chronique des Arts: Principales Acquisitions des Musées in 1975." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 87, no. 1286 (supplement, March 1976).
Mukherjee, Sushil. "Treasure of the Clark Museum." Berkshire Magazine (Winter 1982).
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984.
Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992.
Richard Whelan.. Impressionist Flowers: Art of the Bouquet.. Middletown (CA): First Glance Books.. 1998..
National Gallery, London. Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890. Nov. 1, 2000-Jan. 28, 2001. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, March 2-May 20, 2001; Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Jun. 16-Sep. 9, 2001. 2000. (Clark only).
M[arie].-L[ouise]. Bataille & G[eorges]. Wildenstein. Berthe Morisot: catalogue des peintures, pastels, et aquarelles. Paris: Beaux-Arts. 1961.
Clairet, Alain, et al. Berthe Morisot, 1841-1895: Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint. Montolivet (France): CERA-nrs. 1997.
Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.
Ganz, James A. and Richard R. Brettell. Great French Paintings from the Clark: Barbizon through Impressionism. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2011.
EUROPEAN PAINTINGS CATALOGUE ENTRY
Provenance
Julie Manet (Mme Ernest Rouart), the artist’s daughter (until d. 1966); Denis Rouart, her son, Neuilly-sur-Seine, by descent (from 1966, sold or consigned to Daber); [Galerie Daber, Paris, sold to the Clark, 1974]; Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1974.
