Painting
Jour d'été
Berthe Morisot, 1879
Show the style
Impressionism, Iron Architecture · chronological order 9
Oil on canvas, 45.7 × 75.2 cm, painted by Berthe Morisot in 1879 on the lake in the Bois de Boulogne, the big park in Paris. Two women are out in a rowing boat; one looks at the painter, the other at the ducks. It is in the National Gallery in London, though it spends spells at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin.
Morisot founded the Impressionist group with Monet, Degas and the rest, and showed in seven of their eight exhibitions (she missed the other one because her daughter was born). Critics at the time brushed her off with talk of feminine charm. Meanwhile she was painting looser than almost any of them: look closely at the water and it falls apart into patches of colour.