With a half-questioning, half-fierce look, it is a Berthe Morisot dressed in black from head to toe who calls out to us with her dark eyes (green in reality) in Manet's portrait, Berthe Morisot with a bouquet of violets . Misleading title because we see almost nothing of these famous violets in the painting. Only this young woman, whose face emerges from a mass of variations of dark colors. This is one of my favorite paintings. Berthe Morisot is not a classic beauty but a beauty with a personality. It stings. She catches. I always find in him this slight air of defiance and determination, perceptible in the numerous portraits of Manet. But also in the few photographs that we find of her. Manet always painted it black. Except in the famous "Balcony" where she sits in the foreground all adorned in sparkling white. Black suits him well, seems to match a temperament that we imagine to be shady, fierce, determined. A Spanish beauty, they said....
And yet when she paints, Berthe Morisot chooses color, vibratory light. Fresh, vegetal tones, as if extracted from gardens, flowers, the great outdoors.
And then the white, vibrant and agitated in the women's dresses. As in this portrait of a young girl at a ball, where the dress seems to sparkle on a festive evening, like a response, an anti-thesis to Manet's portrait.
