Forêt de Compiègne
1885
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
54.2 × 64.8 cm (21 3/8 × 25 1/2 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
53058
Art Historical Context
Step into the sun-dappled tranquility of Berthe Morisot's *Forêt de Compiègne* (1885), an enchanting oil on canvas that captures lush beauty of the Compiègne Forest, a historic woodland north of Paris once favored by French royalty for hunting. Measuring 54.2 × 64.8 cm, this intimate landscape exemplifies Morisot's mastery as a leading Impressionist, a movement she helped pioneer alongside peers like Monet and Renoir. Painted en plein air during the movement's mature phase, it reflects the late 19th-century fascination with everyday nature, away from the urban bustle of Paris. Morisot's signa...
About the Artist
Berthe Morisot · 1841–1895
Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) was a founding member of the Impressionist movement and one of the most significant women artists of the 19th century. Born into an affluent bourgeois family in Bourges, France—her mother was a great-niece of the Rococo painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard—Morisot received serious artistic training despite the social constraints facing women of her class. Under the guidance of...