Berthe Morisot was born the daughter of a top French civil servant and, along with her sister Edna, grew up with an artistic heritage, as the grand-nieces of the Rococo painter Fragonard.

Both Berthe and her sister began taking drawing lessons in 1857, and from 1860-1862 were pupils of Corot, whose paintings Berthe had copied in order to improve her abilities. In 1864, she exhibited her first landscapes in the Salon and by 1868 had befriended Manet, who gave her advice and painted her portraits.

She exhibited in all but one of the Impressionist exhibitions from 1874 to 1886, missing only the fourth one due to illness.

She married Manet’s brother Eugene in 1874 and they settled in a house in Paris which soon became a weekly meeting place for painters and writers such as Degas, Monet, Pissaro, Whistler, Duret and Renoir. Berthe was given the ultimate compliment of the times by the group: “she paints with the vigor of a man.” Her strength, enthusiasm and ability to continue her passion for painting despite being a wife and mother, and her commitment to Impressionism led her to become one of the most important woman artists of her time. In contrast, her sister Edna left her painting career behind when she married. .