Impressionism1879
Summer's Day
Berthe Morisot
Curator's Eye
"Observe the bold fusion between the figures and their environment: the brushstrokes do not stop at the outlines, they bind the silk dresses to the shimmering water of the lake. Morisot succeeds here in painting the air and the thermal sensation of the outdoors rather than simple objects."
A vibrant immersion in the heart of the Bois de Boulogne, this 1879 masterpiece represents the pinnacle of Berthe Morisot's technique. Through a ballet of zigzag strokes and dazzling luminosity, the artist captures the very essence of the ephemeral and feminine modernity.
Analysis
Painted for the fifth Impressionist exhibition in 1880, this work transports the viewer onto a skiff in the middle of the lake in the Bois de Boulogne. At that time, the Bois de Boulogne had become the stage for elegant Parisian life, a space of controlled freedom where the bourgeoisie came to show themselves. Morisot, as a woman of her time, transforms this leisure spot into a radical study of light. The two models, likely professionals despite their appearance as young socialites, seem to float in a universe where the distinction between solid and liquid totally vanishes.
The work is revolutionary in its refusal of narration. Nothing "happens," except for the passage of time over the water. Unlike Manet or Renoir, Morisot introduces no explicit romantic or social stakes. Her subject is pure perception. She uses extremely rapid, almost nervous strokes, which were often misunderstood by her contemporaries as a sign of "feminine negligence," when it was actually a fierce desire to seize the instantaneity before the light changed.
Morisot's modernity also lies in her ability to treat human figures with the same detachment as the landscape. Faces are barely sketched, avoiding portraiture to favor plastic integration. This approach slightly dehumanizes the subjects to transform them into vectors of color. The blue dress in the foreground becomes a receptacle for all the sky's reflections, while the straw hat acts as a warm chromatic anchor amidst the cold blues and greens.
Finally, the context of plein-air creation is paramount. Morisot actually painted from a boat, braving logistical constraints to achieve this atmospheric truth. She rejected the comfort of the studio to confront directly the sun's reverberation on the water, a move that places visual sensation above any academic rule of drawing or perspective.
The first secret of this work lies in the identity of the models. Although they resemble members of the Morisot family, they were actually professional models paid to pose in a public place. This distancing allowed the artist greater freedom of formal manipulation, treating bodies as simple colored masses rather than psychological portraits, a rare practice for her at that time.
A darker secret concerns the material history of the painting. In 1912, "Summer's Day" was the object of a spectacular theft at the National Gallery in London. It was stolen by Hugh Lane as part of a political protest regarding his bequest. Lane claimed that the painting legitimately belonged to Ireland. The painting eventually returned to London, but this incident highlighted the political and symbolic value Morisot's works began to acquire long after her death.
On a technical level, a secret hidden from the naked eye is the use of the canvas preparation. Morisot used a very fine-grained canvas, with almost no thick priming, to allow the oil paint to dry quickly and retain the appearance of watercolor. Some areas of the lake are not blue paint but the reflection of light on the very fibers of the exposed canvas, an extremely bold "reserve" technique for the 1870s.
Finally, there is a secret related to the work's original frame. Morisot, influenced by the theories of her brother-in-law Édouard Manet, insisted that her works be presented in white or silver frames rather than the heavy gilding usual at the time. This was intended not to stifle the pastel palette and to reinforce the impression that the painting was a window open to light, a curatorial decision that was deemed eccentric by 19th-century conservative critics.
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What major stylistic innovation, particularly visible in "Summer's Day", did Berthe Morisot develop to translate the refraction of light on the water?
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