The Sail Boat

Date1887

MediumWatercolour on paper

Dimensions24 x 20 cm

ClassificationsWatercolours

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland in memory of Sarah Purser, 1944.

Object number920

DescriptionMorisot was actively involved in the latest artistic developments in Paris. She was an admirer of the work of Manet whom she met in 1868, a member of his artistic circle and a model in many of his paintings; she exhibited regularly with the Impressionist painters form their first group exhibition in 1874, one of the few women artists to do so. The café-concert and bar scenes, favoured by some male members of the Impressionist group, were inaccessible to women of her class and Morisot tended to favour domestic subjects. However, she frequently depicted boating scenes and 'The Sail Boat' could be one of a number of possible locations; with her family she spent holidays at Bougival on the Seine, and at Nice, where she painted constantly. The lake on the Bois de Boulogne is the setting for 'A Summers Day' in the Lane Bequest collection.

In 'The Sail Boat' much of the paper has been left unpainted. Morisot is working in pure watercolour, allowing the white of the paper to show through the translucent paint. The work is painted primarily in soft green and blue tones with just some warmth introduced by the use of earth colours in the boat and mast. The small scale of this work would suggest it was a study.

(Extract from 'Images and Insights', Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, 1993, p. 218)

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