Reading (1873): Art, History and Details

Reading (1873) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Berthe Morisot (French, 1841–1895).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Morisot’s sister, Edma, posed for this painting of a woman seated on her shawl in a field, her eyes on the pages of a book, with a parasol and fan discarded on the grass. Her white dress reflects the light and shadows of the outdoor setting; its delicate floral pattern echoes the meadow’s wildflowers. X-ray examination reveals that Morisot revised Edma’s eyes, which previously looked directly at the beholder, in a manner more typical of Manet’s figures (see The Railway on view in this gallery). Whereas women in Manet’s paintings often return the viewer’s look, Morisot’s figures are usually absorbed in tasks or private reflection.

Object facts

• Title: Reading
• Date: 1873
• Creator attribution: Berthe Morisot (French, 1841–1895)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 74.3 x 100.3 x 12.1 cm (29 1/4 x 39 1/2 x 4 3/4 in.); Unframed: 46 x 71.8 cm (18 1/8 x 28 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1950.89

A detail from the museum

The Impressionists were mostly men with a few notable exceptions, including Berthe Morisot. While Morisot's work includes many of the hallmarks of Impressionism, such as her loose brushwork, the subject matter of her paintings often reflects the social constraints of her gender. Her paintings often depicted domestic tableaux or images of her friends and family, such as this painting of her sister.

Collection credit

Gift of the Hanna Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Bodelsen, Merete. “Early Impressionist Sales 1874-94 in the light of some unpublished ‘procès-verbaux’,” Burlington Magazine CX, no. 783 (June 1968): 335.
• Lindsay, Suzanne Glover. “Berthe Morisot: Nineteenth-Century Woman as Professional,” Perspectives on Morisot. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1990.
• d'Argencourt, Louise, Roger Diederen, and Alisa Luxenberg. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.