1885, Berthe Morisot, The Cage -- National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington)
From the museum label: Morisot presented works in all but one of the Impressionist exhibitions held from 1874 to 1886. Around 1880 she began experimenting with painting on unprimed canvas. The texture of the heavy woven fabric affected the paint application, which became increasingly loose and sketchy. In this work, she constructed a still life comprising a birdcage (protecting a pair of red-masked birds) and a bowl of flowers against an ambiguous background of choppily applied strokes of paint. Juxtaposing forms and solids against voids, Morisot demonstrated her ability to give an oil painting the same unstudied appearance as a watercolor.
1885, Berthe Morisot, The Cage -- National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington)
From the museum label: Morisot presented works in all but one of the Impressionist exhibitions held from 1874 to 1886. Around 1880 she began experimenting with painting on unprimed canvas. The texture of the heavy woven fabric affected the paint application, which became increasingly loose and sketchy. In this work, she constructed a still life comprising a birdcage (protecting a pair of red-masked birds) and a bowl of flowers against an ambiguous background of choppily applied strokes of paint. Juxtaposing forms and solids against voids, Morisot demonstrated her ability to give an oil painting the same unstudied appearance as a watercolor.