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White Flowers in a Bowl

Berthe Morisot (French, 1841–1895)
1885

Medium/Technique Oil on canvas
Dimensions 46 x 55 cm (18 1/8 x 21 5/8 in.)
Credit Line Bequest of John T. Spaulding
Accession Number48.581
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Although flowers are frequently included in Berthe Morisot’s portraits and interiors, still lifes make up only a small percentage of her work. White Flowers in a Bowl demonstrates the spontaneity associated with her late style. Morisot describes the forms of the bowl, pitcher, and bouquet with a thickly loaded brush, employing a loose, fluent touch. The quick, short strokes used for the flower petals convey the soft, dense quality of the white blooms, traditionally identified as Reines-Marguerites (an aster varietal). Morisot leaves peripheral sections of the unprimed canvas visible, emphasizing the unpremeditated appearance of her composition.

InscriptionsLower left: B Morisot
Provenance1896, with Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris [see note 1]. Octave Mirbeau (b. 1850 - d. 1917), Paris; February 24, 1919, posthumous Mirbeau sale, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, lot 28. 1925, Durand-Ruel, New York (stock no. 8172); February 7, 1925, sold by Durand-Ruel to John Taylor Spaulding (b. 1870 - d. 1948), Boston; 1948, bequest of John Taylor Spaulding to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 3, 1948)

NOTES:
[1] Included in the exhibition "Berthe Morisot (Madame Eugène Manet): Exposition de son oeuvre" (Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, March 5-21, 1896), cat. no. 161 ("Reines- Marguerites")