Woman at her Toilette by Berthe Morisot

In a swirl of delicate strokes, the 1875 painting Woman at her Toilette by Berthe Morisot evokes a fleeting and intimate glimpse of a woman arranging her hair at her dressing table mirror.

Woman at her Toilette by Berthe Morisot (oil on canvas, 23-3/4x31-5/8 inches) can be seen at The Art Institute of Chicago.

Woman at her Toilette features a nuanced range of icy pale tones of pink, blue, white, and silver. This painting is an example of Berthe Morisot's ephemeral approach.

For more on Impressionist paintings, artists, and art history, see:

• Impressionism
• Vincent van Gogh
• Claude Monet

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Debra N. Mancoff, Ph.D., is an art historian and lecturer and the author of numerous books on nineteenth-century European and American paintings. She is a scholar in residence at the Newberry Library and an adjunct associate professor and adjunct lecturer at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.