Seated Nude

1875–1885

Oil, watercolour and pastel at once

Grown more confident in oil, Morisot, like Degas, works in oil, watercolour and pastel at the same time. She paints very quickly but prepares with countless studies, so that she can paint “a mouth, eyes, and a nose with a single brushstroke”.

1885–1887

A turn to drawing: line and form

After 1885 drawing begins to dominate Morisot's work: she experiments with charcoal and coloured pencils and clarifies form and line, influenced by photography and Japonism. Like the Japanese prints of the time, she places objects away from the centre of the composition.

1887–1895

Squaring and tracing paper: the synthesis of her last years

Morisot starts to use squaring and tracing paper to transcribe her drawings exactly onto the canvas, which lets her build compositions with more complicated interaction between figures. Her late works are distinctive for their synthesis of the Impressionist touch with broad strokes and light reflections and the graphic approach of clear lines.

1888–1889

From short strokes to long, sinuous ones

In 1888–89 Morisot's brushstrokes change from short, rapid ones to long, sinuous ones that define form; the outer edges of her paintings are often left unfinished, so that the canvas shows through and increases the sense of spontaneity.

1890

“No man has ever treated a woman as an equal”

In 1890 Morisot writes in a notebook about her struggle to be taken seriously as an artist: she does not think there has ever been a man who treated a woman as an equal, and that is all she would have asked for, since she knows she is worth as much as they are.