COMMUNION
MYTHOLOGY OF OTHER
The scream (Edvard Munch)
The Arnolfini Marriage (Jan Van Eyck)
The bath (Mary Cassatt)
The metaphorical rim of the glass
Berthe Morisot with a fan (Édouard Manet)
A bouquet of violets (Édouard Manet)
Woman and child against stained glass background (Odilon Redon)
SPRING 2009
A BOUQUET OF VIOLETS (ÉDOUARD MANET)
A bouquet of violets. Édouard Manet. 1872.
It is not enough to know your craft – you have to have feeling. Édouard Manet (1832-83)
By all accounts, Berthe Morisot fascinated the married Édouard Manet. Between 1868, when they first met, and 1874, when she married his brother, he painted her portrait eleven times.
His painting, A bouquet of violets, which Manet gave to Morisot in 1872, is another intriguing dimension to their relationship. The violets and fan are objects found in two earlier portraits: The Balcony, where she carries a red fan, and Berthe Morisot with a bouquet of violets, where the violets are pinned to her dress. The third object, a partially folded letter, reveals handwriting which reads: à Mlle Berthe and bears the signature, E. Manet . Some researchers suggest that the combination of these particular Victorian symbols -- violets, fan and letter -- creates a cloaked love message.
The Balcony (detail of Morisot with red fan). Édouard Manet. 1868-69. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
Berthe Morisot with a bouquet of violets. Édouard Manet. 1872. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. When Manet painted Berthe Morisot with a bouquet of violets, she was in mourning following the death of her father.
