Kentucky's Speed Art Museum Hosts Exhibit of Rarely Seen Impressionist Paintings

LOUISVILLE, KY.

:The Speed Art Museum will host an exhibition of Impressionist works from the collection of Berthe Morisot from the Musee Marmottan-Monet in Paris, June 7 through September 18.

"Berthe Morisot: An Impressionist and Her Circle" will feature paintings, watercolors and drawings by Morisot herself as well as paintings from her art collection, including paintings by Degas, Manet, Renoir and Monet.

This is the first time this collection from the Musee Marmottan-Monet has traveled to the United States.

Along with Mary Cassatt, Morisot was the most well-known and successful female Impressionist painter and one of the most important woman artists of the Nineteenth Century. She was the first woman to join the artistic circle of the Impressionists and she exhibited her paintings of intimate domestic interiors, portraits, garden scenes, landscapes and coastal scenes in all but one of the Impressionist exhibitions of the 1870s and 1880s.

Morisot's work is distinctive in its spontaneity and in its brighter, more vivid palette. In fact, it was Morisot who persuaded Manet to lighten his palette.

Selected photographs and documents from the Morisot archives at the Musee Marmottan-Monet in Paris will be included in the exhibition.

This exhibition is organized by the Musee Marmottan-Monet, Paris. Other venues in the United States include the National Museum of Women in the Arts and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

A color catalog of the exhibition will be available.

The museum, 2035 South Third Street, opens at 10:30 am, Tuesday through Saturday, noon on Sunday. Closing hours are 4 pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 8 pm Thursday; and 5 pm Saturday and Sunday. For information, www.speedmuseum.org or 502-634-2700.