The Mother and Sister of the Artist

1869–70

Oil on canvas, 101 × 81.8 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington

Morisot's mother, in black, reads while her sister Edma sits behind her in white. It is one of Morisot's largest canvases, shown at the Salon of 1870.

Morisot's letters record that Manet heavily repainted the mother on the last day for Salon entries.
Manet's broad strokes shape the mother; Morisot's lighter touch shapes Edma and the sofa. For the Impressionists, visible brushwork like this was a mark of each painter's own hand.
Edma's loose white morning robe conceals her pregnancy with her first child.
Chester Dale bequeathed it to the National Gallery of Art in 1963.

Daughters of Morisot's upper-middle-class family were expected to paint only as amateurs. Edma stopped painting after her marriage in 1869.

Image: National Gallery of Art Open Access · CC0