A Woman and Child in a Garden

This painting was produced around in either the summer of 1883 or 1884, at which point artist Morisot was spending leisure time within Bougival. She created a series of work here over a four year period.

This is an intruiging composition which presents an oval focus, centered on the middle of the canvas, but with most elements around the edge being blurred. It is almost as if she is recreating how the eye sees items through it's central focus. It leaves almost a dream-like finish where the only clear detail is central, featuring a lady and a young girl sat in this Bougival garden. Some elements of the garden are appended before the outskirts of the canvas are then a blurred combination of strokes of blue and green, with some tones of brown in the near foreground. The two figures has been explained as the artist's daughter, Julie, and perhaps a nurse or female friend.

In some ways, this painting actually reminds us of some of the artist's watercolours and drawings, where elements of the scene are left relatively untouched, but the main focus is highly developed. The unusual cropping format of this piece may point to influences from Japanese artists, who influenced a number of European Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Morisot hired this house across four different summers and produced some of her best work here, perhaps benefitting from the relaxed, comfortable environment in which she was working.

A Woman and Child in a Garden is now owned by the Scottish National Gallery and, at the time of writing, is on display. This impressive art gallery is found in central Edinburgh and can be considered perhaps Scotland's finest art institution, in terms of their permanent collection. They possess a great variety of work, with many paintings of a particularly high standard. There is a number of paintings by the Greek artist El Greco, and in terms of the Impressionist period you will also find original artworks from the likes of Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Georges Seurat plus also Jean Siméon Chardin who is known to have been studied in depth by Berthe Morisot.