The John Batchelor Show

JULIE MANET, THE VALUE OF TRANSIENCE, AND THE AVANT-GARDE Colleague Sebastian Smee. Berthe Morisot's legacy was carried on by her daughter, Julie Manet, to whom Berthe wrote a tender deathbed letter expressing that Julie had provided her solely with happiness. Morisot's work exemplifies the concept of "transience value"—the idea, later articulated by Freud, that the fleeting nature of beauty makes it more precious. Her paintings of adolescents and domestic scenes celebrated the present moment precisely because it was always changing. While the next generation of the avant-garde, such as Van Gogh and Munch, reacted against Impressionism's lack of structure, they built directly upon its liberation of color. Although these newer artists sought more permanence, the Impressionist dedication to capturing fugitive effects proved to have lasting power, validating Morisot's vision of finding profound truth in the ephemeral. NUMBER 8 1925

MANET'S FINAL YEARS AND THE POSTHUMOUS HONOR OF MORISOT Colleague Sebastian Smee. Following the war, Manet painted a series of intimate portraits of Berthe Morisot, capturing her erotic restlessness and "black" mourning attire. Since they could not marry, Manet seemingly facilitated her marriage to his brother, Eugène, who became a supportive husband and advocate for her art. While Morisot struggled with melancholy, she defied Édouard's advice to stick to the Salon, instead exhibiting in almost all the independent Impressionist shows. After Édouard died a painful death from syphilis, and Berthe later passed away, her colleagues Renoir, Monet, and Degasorganized a posthumous exhibition in her honor. The depth of their respect was revealed in a passionate argument between Degas and the others over how best to hang her work to ensure the public understood her brilliance. NUMBER 7

PLEIN AIR PAINTING AND THE IMPRESSIONIST FOCUS ON THE PRESENT Colleague Sebastian Smee. The Impressionists revolutionized art by painting en plein air (outdoors), prioritizing the sincerity of what they saw in front of them over the carefully composed conventions of the studio. They sought to capture fleeting effects of light and color with directness. Berthe Morisot applied this "sincerity" to domestic and threshold spaces, using loose brushwork to convey the fragility and transience of life—a sensibility likely heightened by the recent political trauma. Interestingly, the Impressionists largely avoided painting the physical ruins of Paris, unlike conservative artists who used such imagery for political rhetoric. Instead, they engaged in a form of psychological repression or optimistic looking-forward, choosing to depict the beauty of contemporary life and the resilience of the present moment rather than dwelling on the destruction of the past. NUMBER 6 1914

THE DEVASTATION OF BLOODY WEEK AND MORISOT'S RESOLVE Colleague Sebastian Smee. In May 1871, French government forces retook Paris during "Bloody Week," a period of atrocity where summary executions were rampant and the streets "ran red with blood." In response, Communards burned major landmarks, including the Tuileries Palace and the Hôtel de Ville. Manet, though absent during the final violence, created a lithograph depicting the execution of Communards as an indictment of the government's brutality. Berthe Morisot witnessed the destruction firsthand; rather than deterring her, the trauma of the "Terrible Year" strengthened her resolve to become a professional artist, a radical decision for a woman of her class. While many were executed or exiled to New Caledonia, Morisotchanneled the instability of the era into her work, emerging from Manet's shadow to become a distinct and innovative painter in her own right. NUMBER 5 1893

THE RISE OF THE PARIS COMMUNE FOLLOWING THE SIEGE Colleague Sebastian Smee. By March 1871, following a winter of starvation where Parisians ate rats and zoo animals, the city's radical Republicans revolted against the provisional government. The radicals, frustrated by the government's failure to break the Prussian siege and the subsequent humiliating surrender terms, seized cannons and established the Commune. This new government aimed for localized, democratic control but was viewed by the national government, now retreated to Versailles under Adolphe Thiers, as an insurrection. The Commune was libertarian and progressive but faced immediate isolation. Having survived the Prussian siege, the Communards now found themselves besieged by French government forces, setting the stage for a brutal civil conflict where the "brother fought brother" narrative of the 19th century would reach a violent climax. NUMBER 4 1890