Morisot, Manet, and the Matter of Independence

The annual Mary Strauss Women in the Arts lecture will be given by Emily Beeny, chief curator of the Legion of Honor, Barbara A. Wolfe Curator in Charge of European Paintings at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Berthe Morisot has often been mistaken for a pupil of Edouard Manet, the so-called father of modern painting. Though their relationship was singularly close—as friends and colleagues, painter and model, collectors of each other’s work, and ultimately members of the same family—it was characterized by mutual exchange and transformed by Morisot’s participation in the inaugural Impressionist exhibition of 1874. Offering an overview of the two artists’ intertwined lives, this talk will explore Morisot’s emergence from Manet’s shadow and her determining role in the story of modern art.

This program is supported by the Mary Strauss Women in the Arts Endowment.