The exhibition is part of the calendar of official celebrations of the 150th Anniversary of Impressionism, included in the commemorative season launched by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, and is sponsored by the French Embassy. The exhibition enjoys the exceptional support of the Académie des beaux-arts and the musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, of the Villa et jardin Ephrussi de Rothschild.
More than 80 works, including paintings, etchings, watercolors, pastels
Added to these are photographic and archive documents, many of which are unpublished, which allow us to retrace the life of the artist, who chose and pursued the profession of painter, shared not only with the greatest artists of the time, and in particular Renoir, Monet, Manet, Degas who regularly frequented her Thursday evening salon, but also with intellectual figures such as Stéphane Mallarmé and Emile Zola.
The tour through eleven rooms of the Doge's Apartment has a chronological development that follows the evolution of Morisot's painting: from the first copies at the Louvre - in particular by Italian artists, and among them, Veronese - to the impressionist turning point. Thematic focuses explore the suggestions of trips to the Riviera. Among these, the furnishing project that she created in her salon-atelier, recalling the architecture of the church of the Gesù in old Nice. The exhibition features the reconstruction of this space conceived by the artist herself.
The exhibition includes a strong biographical dimension, since the painter's art grew and developed in a family environment.
The living room at her parents' house first, and the one in her residences once she became the wife of Eugène Manet, brother of the more famous Edouard, have always also served as a studio. Scenes of modern and daily life are the manifesto of Impressionism, but with Berthe Morisot family intimacy finds a new breath. Exhibited for the first time The portrait of Madame Boursier (1867), Berthe's cousin, is also one of the rare testimonies still preserved of the painter's youthful activity. Also on display is the portrait that her sister Edma made of her in 1865, in which she is depicted with a paintbrush in her hand, testifying to her precocious ambition. And again Lilacs at Maurecourt, painted in the aftermath of the 1874 exhibition, focuses on a familiar scene and exhibits the salient features of Morisot's early Impressionist works, while Young woman in grey lying down (1878) interprets the sophisticated charm of the Parisian girl, another theme dear to her.
In-depth meetings from November 5th
The themes recounted in the exhibition and the artistic and intellectual Parisian environment are explored in depth in a programme of meetings promoted by Palazzo Ducale in Genoa, in collaboration with the French Embassy. The programme is part of the project Existing as a woman conceived and created by Electa, in collaboration with Fondamenta Foundation for the arts and culture, which opens on November 5th with a lectio by the writer Melania Mazzucco, and will be held until January with the presence, among others, of well-known French scholars such as Giuseppe Scaraffia and Daria Galateria. On the program in October, and in collaboration with Circuito Cinema di Genova, the screening of films that narrate the artistic effervescence of those years.
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Jules Chéret Museum of Fine Arts in Nice and with unpublished loans from the heirs of Berthe Morisot. A project of Palazzo Ducale Fondazione per la Cultura with Electa, also publisher of the catalogue, supported by the Liguria Region and the Municipality of Genoa, and curated by Marianne Mathieu, one of the most renowned experts on the work of Berthe Morisot and a scholar of the history of Impressionism, protagonist of many scientific discoveries in this field.
