Young Girl Holding a Basket

Young Girl Holding a Basket by Berthe Morisot French, 1841–1895, is an intimate late-career portrait executed in 1891. This distinctive work is rendered primarily in pastel on a specialized substrate: pink laid paper featuring unique red fibrous inclusions, which has been structurally reinforced by piecing the sheet at the bottom and mounting it onto a honeycomb paper panel. This delicate technique highlights Morisot’s dedication to pastel as a medium capable of conveying both immediacy and subtlety, a hallmark of her fluid Impressionist approach in France.

As one of the founding members of the French Impressionist movement, Morisot often focused her gaze on the domestic lives of women and children, transforming the traditional role of the female artist into one of innovative observation. Here, Morisot captures the figure of a young girl, loosely sketched but attentively observed, holding a wicker basket. The soft, broken strokes typical of Impressionism convey the texture of the sitter’s clothing and the diffuse light that illuminates her. Although created using dry media, the museum classifies this specific work among its graphic arts and prints classifications, reflecting the careful material handling typical of works on paper.

Dating from the final years of the artist's life, this piece exemplifies Morisot’s mature aesthetic, characterized by swift execution and atmospheric effect. The original resides in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. As an important example of 19th-century French art, high-quality images and prints of this work are often made available through museum and public domain initiatives, ensuring continued access for scholarly study worldwide.