Exploring Berthe Morisot: The Mastery of Female Selfhood - Video

This contrast between the empty canvas and the subject can be seen in Young Girl with a Vase, her self-portrait, Jeunne Fille au Manteau Vert and Reclining Woman in Gray. In true Impressionist style the brushstrokes are short broken unblended and loose depicting spontaneity and barely conveying form. She would paint a mouth eyes and a nose with a single stroke Apparently if you look at the painting in person when the light hits the brushstrokes they still seem wet Morisot more than any of her contemporaries was skilled in embodying her female subjects with selfhood Unlike Degas' ballerinas or Manet's nudes The Reclining Woman in Gray and many of Morisot's women are free of objectification