The Drawing Lesson (Berthe Morisot and her Daughter)

Berthe Morisot

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Morisot made only eight drypoints, among which this self-portrait is the most accomplished. She shows herself in the act of drawing her reflection while her daughter, Julie Manet, looks on over her shoulder. Over the course of her career, Morisot depicted Julie more than any other subject. Here, she reconciles her dual roles as mother and artist in one image. Her prints were never published in her lifetime. For the posthumous edition, Julie titled this work "The Drawing Lesson."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art