{"id":1479,"date":"2026-05-23T22:12:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T20:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horscadre.paris\/le-berceau-the-forerunner-of-impressionism\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T22:43:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T20:43:19","slug":"le-berceau-the-forerunner-of-impressionism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horscadre.paris\/en\/le-berceau-the-forerunner-of-impressionism\/","title":{"rendered":"Le Berceau \u2014 the forerunner of Impressionism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Paris, April 15, 1874, the former studio of photographer Nadar, 35 Boulevard des Capucines.<\/strong> The group exhibition opening today has gone down in history as the first Impressionist exhibition<\/strong>. Thirty artists. 165 works on display. And just one woman<\/strong> among the founding group: Berthe Morisot<\/strong>, thirty-three years old, who is exhibiting nine paintings<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

At the heart of this collection is a small-scale<\/strong> work\u2014measuring just 56 \u00d7 46 centimeters\u2014which is nevertheless considered his most famous work today: The Cradle<\/em><\/strong>. In the painting, a young mother dressed in black watches over a cradle draped with a white veil that ripples like a wave. The mother rests her chin in her hand. She gazes at her sleeping child. It is an intimate, silent, almost motionless scene. <\/p>\n\n

The work was not one of the most talked-about pieces in the 1874 exhibition\u2014critics reserved their criticism for Monet, C\u00e9zanne, and Pissarro. But *The Cradle*<\/em><\/strong> marks a historic turning point<\/strong>: it is the first major maternal work<\/strong> in Impressionist painting, and the image that would define for an entire generation of painters what would later be called \u201cmodern intimate painting.\u201d<\/em> Mary Cassatt, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and \u00c9douard Vuillard would all, in their own ways, take up the motif of mother and child pioneered here. <\/p>\n\n

This article recounts the origins of the work, its two models<\/strong> \u2014Berthe\u2019s sister, Edma<\/strong>, who had become Madame Pontillon, and her niece Blanche<\/strong>, born a few months earlier\u2014the context of the 1874 exhibition, the lukewarm critical reception (notably Albert Wolff\u2019s infamous sexist remark), and the extraordinary journey that took this painting from the Pontillon apartment to the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay<\/strong>, after spending fifty-eight years in Edma\u2019s family.<\/p>\n\n

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1872 \u2014 Paris: Edma has been back for a few weeks<\/h2>\n\n

The painting has family and personal roots. Edma Morisot<\/strong> (1839\u20131921), Berthe\u2019s older sister, was living in Lorient<\/strong> at the time, where her husband,the naval officer Adolphe Pontillon<\/strong>, was stationed. Edma herself had been a painter\u2014she studied under the same teachers as Berthe (Chocarne, Guichard, Corot) and exhibited at the Salon in the 1860s. But her marriage<\/strong> to Pontillon in February 1869<\/strong> coincided with her permanent abandonment of painting<\/strong>. In Lorient, Edma devoted herself to her life as an officer\u2019s wife and then to her children. <\/p>\n\n

On December 23, 1871<\/strong>, Edma gave birth to Blanche Pontillon<\/strong>, her first child. A few months later, in early 1872<\/strong>, Edma spent several weeks in Paris with her parents in the Passy neighborhood. She brought little Blanche<\/strong> with her, who was then two to three months old. <\/p>\n\n

Berthe was thirty-one years old<\/strong> at the time. She was still living with her parents\u2014she would not marry Eug\u00e8ne Manet until two years later. She was preparing for<\/strong> the 1872 Salon<\/strong>, to which she submitted her works, as she had done every year since 1864. <\/p>\n\n

It was during this family vacation that she painted *The Cradle<\/em>*. According to correspondence from that time (notably the letters between Berthe and Edma published in the standard biographies), the session was arranged in the Paris apartment of Mme. Morisot, the two sisters\u2019 mother. Edma sat down near the cradle, while Berthe set up her easel a few meters away. Several sessions were required. The painting, completed in the spring of 1872, remained in Berthe\u2019s possession\u2014she did not exhibit it at either the 1872 Salon or the 1873 Salon. <\/p>\n\n

The painting lay untouched for two years<\/strong> in Berthe’s studio. It would not emerge from obscurity until April 1874, at the exhibition held at Nadar’s. <\/p>\n\n

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The Painting \u2014 What It Depicts<\/h2>\n\n

*The Cradle*<\/em> is an oil on canvas<\/strong> measuring 56 centimeters high by 46 centimeters wide<\/strong> \u2014a vertical format of modest dimensions<\/strong> (compared to the 208 \u00d7 264 cm of Manet\u2019s *Luncheon on the Grass*<\/em> ). It is an intimate work<\/strong>, intended for close observation. <\/p>\n\n

The composition is structured around a clear diagonal line<\/strong> that runs across the entire canvas:<\/p>\n\n

On the left, slightly elevated<\/strong>, Edma<\/strong> is seated on a chair or armchair, dressed in black<\/strong> or dark colors. She is shown from the waist up, leaning slightly toward the cradle. Her left hand is folded<\/strong>, her chin resting on her fingers in a pensive, contemplative gesture. Her right arm<\/strong> lifts a white muslin veil<\/strong> that forms a curtain above the cradle. <\/p>\n\n

On the right, below<\/strong>, the cradle<\/strong> is draped with a white, translucent muslin veil<\/strong> that ripples across the entire right half of the canvas. Beneath the veil, Blanche\u2019s face<\/strong> appears, her eyes closed<\/strong>, fast asleep. Her left hand is folded<\/strong> over the pale pink blanket\u2014 a mirror image<\/strong> of her mother\u2019s folded gesture. <\/p>\n\n

Edma\u2019s gaze<\/strong> is entirely focused on her daughter. Not for a single moment does she turn toward the viewer. Not for a single moment does she pose. It is a scene captured in its true intimacy\u2014the mother gazing at her sleeping child<\/strong>, oblivious to the painter watching her. <\/p>\n\n

The color palette<\/strong> is deliberately limited<\/strong>: deep blacks (Edma\u2019s dress, the background), translucent whites (the veil, the pillow), pale pink (the blanket), and the pale skin tones<\/strong> of the mother and child\u2019s faces. No bright colors. No spectacular lighting effects. Everything relies on the subtlety of the transitions<\/strong> between whites and blacks. <\/p>\n\n

The diagonal line that runs across the canvas<\/strong> \u2014from Edma\u2019s gaze to Blanche\u2019s hand\u2014creates an invisible physical bond<\/strong> between mother and child. This is likely the most striking element of the composition. Berthe Morisot does not merely depict a maternal scene; she makes the bond itself visible<\/strong>, through the interplay of the composition alone. The veil that the mother lifts between the viewer and the child accentuates the sense of protected intimacy<\/strong> \u2014as if Berthe were offering us, the viewers, a split second in a world that does not belong to us. <\/p>\n\n

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Edma and Blanche\u2014the two models<\/h2>\n\n

Edma Morisot<\/strong> (1839\u20131921) was Berthe\u2019s immediate older sister. Born in Valenciennes, she accompanied Berthe throughout her artistic training\u2014taking classes with Chocarne in 1857, then with Guichard, and later with Corot in Ville-d\u2019Avray. Edma began exhibiting at the Salon in 1864<\/strong> \u2014the same year as Berthe\u2014and several art critics of the time considered her to be equally talented<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

But in February 1869<\/strong>, at the age of thirty, Edma married Adolphe Pontillon<\/strong> (1832\u20131894), a naval officer stationed in Lorient. The marriage marked Edma\u2019sdefinitive abandonment<\/strong> of painting. Biographers have put forward several theories: life as an officer\u2019s wife far from Paris made it difficult to continue painting; Edma may have consciously stepped aside in the face of Berthe\u2019s talent; or simply, the demands of motherhood may have taken precedence. <\/p>\n\n

This decision stands in stark contrast<\/strong> to the one Berthe would make five years later. On December 22, 1874<\/strong>, Berthe married Eug\u00e8ne Manet<\/strong> \u2014a marriage that, unlike Edma\u2019s, would not put an end to her career<\/strong> but, on the contrary,would intensify it<\/strong>. Eug\u00e8ne, an atypical husband, would actively step back to support his wife\u2019s painting. <\/p>\n\n

Blanche Pontillon<\/strong> (1871\u20131947), Berthe\u2019s niece and the daughter of Edma and Adolphe, was born on December 23, 1871<\/strong>, in Lorient. When she posed for *Le Berceau*<\/em> in the spring of 1872, she was about three months<\/strong> old. Blanche grew up in Lorient and later in Paris. She did not become a painter\u2014she married and had children of her own. The painting remained in the Pontillon family for fifty-eight years<\/strong>, passed down from generation to generation before being purchased by the government in 1930. <\/p>\n\n

Edma appears in several other works by Berthe Morisot: *Portrait of Madame Edma Pontillon*<\/em> (1871, Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay), *Madame Pontillon in the Garden on Rue Franklin*<\/em> (1873), and *Edma on the Grass*<\/em> (1873). Berthe painted her sister more than fifteen times<\/strong> over the course of her career\u2014a figure of absolute reference, a model of loyalty and a confidante. The correspondence between the two sisters<\/strong>, partially published by biographers (notably in Anne Higonnet, *Berthe Morisot*<\/em>, 1989), constitutes one of the most valuable biographical sources on Berthe. <\/p>\n\n

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The Subject\u2014Motherhood as an Impressionist Theme<\/h2>\n\n

According to the Mus\u00e9e d’Orsay, *The Cradle*<\/em> is \u201cthe first appearance of a maternal image in Morisot\u2019s work, a subject that would become one of her favorite themes.\u201d<\/em> More broadly, it is also the first major maternal work in the entire history of Impressionist painting<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

The theme of motherhood<\/strong> was not absent from the history of Western painting, but it remained largely governed by religious conventions: Christian Nativity scenes<\/strong> (from the Italian Renaissance to Georges de La Tour in the 17th century, including the \u201cMadonna and Child\u201d paintings by all the great masters) or allegories of Charity<\/strong>. Contemporary bourgeois motherhood, observed in its everyday banality<\/strong>, was simply not a subject for painting<\/strong> in the mid-19th century. <\/p>\n\n

Berthe Morisot created this subject<\/strong> in 1872. She does not stage the scene, she does not mythologize it, and she does not dramatize it. She observes her sister watching over her niece, just as so many other mothers watched over their children throughout bourgeois France at the end of the Second Empire. And she turned it into a major work of art<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

The motif was immediately taken up<\/strong> by the other Impressionists:<\/p>\n\n

\u2014 Pierre-Auguste Renoir<\/strong> painted several “Maternit\u00e9” works in the 1880s, including *Maternit\u00e9 (Madame Renoir and Her Son Pierre)<\/em> * in 1885.<\/p>\n\n

\u2014 Camille Pissarro<\/strong> painted numerous works depicting his wife, Julie, watching over or feeding their children.<\/p>\n\n

\u2014 Mary Cassatt<\/strong> (1844\u20131926), an American painter who arrived in Paris in 1874 and became friends with Degas and Morisot, made the mother and child<\/strong> her primary subject<\/strong> for forty years. More than 200 of Cassatt\u2019s works explore this motif. She undoubtedly saw *The Cradle*<\/em> at the Impressionist exhibitions in which she participated beginning in 1879. <\/p>\n\n

\u2014 In the 1890s and 1900s, \u00c9douard Vuillard<\/strong> would continue this domestic observation<\/strong>, which he had inherited from Morisot, in an intimate style that became one of the hallmarks of the Nabi movement.<\/p>\n\n

*Le Berceau*<\/em> is thus, in the literal sense, the cradle<\/strong> of an entire strand of modern painting\u2014that ofintimate, everyday life observed without mythologizing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

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Degas’s Invitation, Manet’s Opposition<\/h2>\n\n

The story ofthe April 1874 exhibition<\/strong> at Nadar\u2019s studio is made particularly interesting by the behind-the-scenes story of<\/strong> Berthe Morisot\u2019s decision<\/strong> to participate.<\/p>\n\n

According to institutional sources (notably the magazine *Orsay 2025* and leading biographers), it was Edgar Degas<\/strong> who personally invited Berthe Morisot to participate in this first independent group exhibition. Degas, a longtime friend, saw Berthe as a natural ally<\/strong> for the venture the young painters wanted to undertake. <\/p>\n\n

But Berthe hesitates. And her close circle of artistic friends and colleagues strongly opposes<\/strong> her participation. Two prominent figures try to dissuade her: <\/p>\n\n

\u00c9douard Manet<\/strong>, her friend since 1868 and soon-to-be brother-in-law, was categorically opposed<\/strong>. He believed\u2014as he had demonstrated in his own work\u2014that the battle for modern painting must be waged within the official Salon<\/strong>, not on the fringes. Manet never participated and would never participate in the eight Impressionist exhibitions. He would prefer that Berthe continue to exhibit at the Salon, as she had been doing since 1864. <\/p>\n\n

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes<\/strong>, a Symbolist painter and friend of the Morisot circle, was also opposed to the idea. According to biographers, he even predicted to Berthe that the exhibition would be a commercial and critical failure<\/strong>. A week before the opening, he still tried to convince her to withdraw her works. <\/p>\n\n

Berthe ignored this<\/strong>. She chose her side\u2014that of the young painters gathered around Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Degas, and C\u00e9zanne. She submitted nine works<\/strong> to the exhibition at Nadar\u2019s (according to the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay\u2019s catalog entry)\u2014or fourteen oil paintings, three pastels, and three watercolors<\/strong>, according to exhaustive counts that include works not listed in the exhibition catalog. *The Cradle*<\/em> is among the major works. <\/p>\n\n

In fact, it is an act of courage and independence<\/strong>: Berthe is giving up the institutional security she has enjoyed for the past ten years to embark on an adventure with an uncertain outcome, against the advice of her most respected loved ones.<\/p>\n\n

History will prove him right.<\/p>\n\n

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April 15, 1874 \u2014 The Welcome on Boulevard des Capucines<\/h2>\n\n

The exhibition opened on April 15, 1874<\/strong>, in the former studio of the photographer Nadar<\/strong> (Gaspard-F\u00e9lix Tournachon), at 35 Boulevard des Capucines<\/strong> in Paris\u2019s 9th arrondissement. The artists organized themselves under the official name \u201cSoci\u00e9t\u00e9 anonyme coop\u00e9rative d’artistes peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs\u201d (Cooperative Corporation of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers).<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

165 works<\/strong> are on display by 30 artists<\/strong>. Among them, in addition to Berthe Morisot, are Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley, Paul C\u00e9zanne, Eug\u00e8ne Boudin, Armand Guillaumin<\/strong>, and several others. <\/p>\n\n

Berthe Morisot was the only woman<\/strong> in the group to exhibit under her own name (another woman, referred to as \u201cMademoiselle X,\u201d exhibited under a pseudonym\u2014her identity remains a subject of debate among historians).<\/p>\n\n

Critical reception of *Le Berceau*<\/em> has been mixed but without any major hostility<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n

\u2014 L\u00e9on de Lora<\/strong> mentions it in *Le Gaulois*<\/em> without dwelling on it. \u2014 Castagnary<\/strong> in *Le Si\u00e8cle*<\/em> speaks favorably of it, emphasizing the \u201cgrace\u201d of the work. \u2014 Several critics note Berthe Morisot\u2019s technical mastery<\/strong> and her delicate handling of light<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

But the controversy centered primarily on Monet, C\u00e9zanne, and Pissarro<\/strong>. Monet\u2019s *Impression, Sunrise*<\/em> drew sarcastic remarks from Louis Leroy<\/strong> in *Le Charivari*<\/em> on April 25, 1874\u2014it was this review that, in derision, coined the term \u201cImpressionists\u201d<\/strong> to describe the group.<\/p>\n\n

For Berthe, the experience was generally positive<\/strong>. Several sympathetic critics praised her talent. She sold one painting (though not *Le Berceau*<\/em>, which remained unsold). She was definitively accepted into the circle of modern painters. Her decision to participate<\/strong>\u2014made against the advice of Manet and Puvis de Chavannes\u2014proved to be the right one. <\/p>\n\n

As for *Le Berceau*<\/em>, it was returned to Berthe\u2019s home<\/strong> after the exhibition. No buyer came forward. The painting returned to the studio\u2014and was later given to Edma<\/strong>, his sister and the model for the work. It remained in the Pontillon family for fifty-eight years. <\/p>\n\n

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Albert Wolff and Sexist Criticism<\/h2>\n\n

Among the reviews of the Impressionist exhibition, one of the most frequently cited by historians is thatof Albert Wolff<\/strong>, an art critic for *Le Figaro<\/em>*. Wolff (1835\u20131891), an influential and feared critic of the time, wrote a review in which he referred to Berthe Morisot\u2019s presence in a phrase that has become famous<\/strong> for its crude sexism: <\/p>\n\n

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\u201cThere is also a woman in the group, as in all famous bands. Her name is Berthe Morisot. In her work, feminine grace endures amid the excesses of a delirious mind.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\u2014 Albert Wolff, on the 1874 Impressionist exhibition<\/em><\/p>\n\n

This sentence is worth analyzing for what it reveals, in factual terms<\/strong>, about the status of women painters in 1874.<\/p>\n\n

First, Wolff acknowledges Berthe\u2019s presence<\/strong> \u2014something that was far from obvious to male art critics of the time, who often simply ignored female painters. The mere fact that he mentions her name attests to his recognition of her as a member of the group<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

Second, the phrase \u201cas in all famous bands\u201d<\/em> betrays the idea that the presence of a woman in a group of men<\/strong> is in itself a curiosity<\/strong> \u2014not a visual reality to be examined. The woman is treated as a symbol<\/strong> or a mascot<\/strong>, not as an artist in her own right. <\/p>\n\n

Third,the final oxymoron<\/strong> (\u201cfeminine grace endures amid the excesses of a delirious mind\u201d<\/em>) reveals the double standard<\/strong> applied to women painters by critics<\/strong>. \u201cGrace\u201d is expected; yet the \u201cexcesses of a delirious mind\u201d are projected onto Berthe as if her artistic practice were a form of madness<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

In a letter to Edma from the same period, Berthe Morisot directly describes<\/strong> the difficulty she faces\u2014not from professional art critics, but within her own family circle:<\/p>\n\n

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“My mother politely told me yesterday that she had no faith in my talent and that she didn’t believe I would ever be able to do anything serious.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\u2014 Berthe Morisot, letter to her sister Edma, circa 1869\u20131870<\/em><\/p>\n\n

These two quotes form a historical diptych<\/strong>: external sexist criticism<\/strong> (Wolff) and internal family conflict<\/strong> (Marie-Corn\u00e9lie Morisot doubting her daughter\u2019s worth). Berthe painted *Le Berceau*<\/em> in this specific context<\/strong> \u2014not amid general support, but in the face of multiple obstacles. <\/p>\n\n

This is probably one of the reasons why, a century and a half later<\/strong>, *Le Berceau*<\/em> still moves us. It is not merely a scene of tenderness\u2014it is also an assertion of a right<\/strong>: a woman\u2019s right to depict her sister and niece as a serious subject in painting, and to establish that subject within the grand narrative of modern painting. <\/p>\n\n

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From Paris to Orsay \u2014 Fifty-Eight Years with the Pontillon Family<\/h2>\n\n

The physical history of the painting after 1874 is unique.<\/p>\n\n

1874\u20131872<\/strong>: Berthe brought the painting back to Paris after the Nadar exhibition. No buyer came forward. The painting returned to Berthe\u2019s studio on Rue Franklin. <\/p>\n\n

Probably before 1880<\/strong>: Berthe gave the painting to her sister Edma<\/strong>. The exact date of the gift is not documented, but based on family correspondence and the Morisot family\u2019s custom, the work naturally passed to Edma Pontillon<\/strong> \u2014the model and sister\u2014some time after the exhibition. The painting thus found its way to Edma in Lorient or at her subsequent residences. <\/p>\n\n

1872\u20131921<\/strong>: *Le Berceau*<\/em> remained in Edma Pontillon\u2019s personal collection<\/strong> for nearly fifty years<\/strong>, hanging in her family home. Edma died in 1921 in Maurecourt (Val-d\u2019Oise), where she had retired in her later years. The painting was passed down to her descendants<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

1930<\/strong>:The French government acquires <\/strong>*Le Berceau*<\/em><\/strong> from the Pontillon family<\/strong> for the Mus\u00e9e du Luxembourg<\/strong> (then the State Museum of Contemporary Art). This effectively marked Berthe Morisot\u2019s entry into the French national collections<\/strong> \u2014eighty years after her birth and thirty-five years after her death. <\/p>\n\n

1940s\u20131950s: The<\/strong> museum was moved from the Mus\u00e9e du Luxembourg to the Louvre<\/strong>, and then to the Mus\u00e9e du Jeu de Paume<\/strong>, which is dedicated to the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.<\/p>\n\n

December 9, 1986<\/strong>: Opening of the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay<\/strong>. *Le Berceau*<\/em> is on permanent display in the Impressionist Gallery, under inventory number RF 2849<\/strong>. Today, it is one of the<\/strong> museum\u2019s iconic works<\/strong> \u2014regularly featured on the covers of publications dedicated to Berthe Morisot. <\/p>\n\n

The work\u2019s physical journey\u2014 fifty-eight years in a family collection<\/strong>, followed by its belated acquisition by the government\u2014illustratesthe relative obscurity<\/strong> to which Berthe Morisot fell during the first half of the 20th century. Her institutional rediscovery did not truly begin until the1941<\/strong> exhibition atthe Orangerie<\/strong> (with a preface by Paul Val\u00e9ry) and, even more so, with the major retrospectives of the 1980s\u20132020s<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

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Posterity\u2014the cradle of all Impressionist motherhood<\/h2>\n\n

The influence of the Cradle<\/em> on modern Western painting<\/strong> extends far beyond the scope of any single work.<\/p>\n\n

Mary Cassatt<\/strong> (1844\u20131926), an American painter who arrived in Paris in 1874 and became friends with Degas in the late 1870s, began exhibiting with the Impressionists in 1879<\/strong>. She undoubtedly saw *The Cradle*<\/em> during the successive Impressionist exhibitions. Beginning in the 1880s, Cassatt made the mother-and-child<\/strong> motif the central theme of her career<\/strong> \u2014more than 200 works<\/strong> explore this theme. *La Petite Toilette*<\/em> (1891, Art Institute of Chicago), *Mother and Child with Red Hair*<\/em> (1898, Detroit Institute of Arts), *The Child\u2019s Bath*<\/em> (1893, Art Institute of Chicago)\u2014all these works continue the artistic direction pioneered by Morisot. <\/p>\n\n

Pierre-Auguste Renoir<\/strong> painted *Maternity (Madame Renoir and Her Son Pierre)<\/em> * (1885, Saint Louis Art Museum)\u2014in which his wife, Aline Charigot, is breastfeeding their first son.<\/p>\n\n

Camille Pissarro<\/strong> painted numerous works featuring his wife, Julie Vellay<\/strong>, caring for their children, particularly in intimate scenes from the 1880s.<\/p>\n\n

\u00c9douard Vuillard<\/strong> (1868\u20131940) continued this domestic observation<\/strong> during the 1890s and 1910s, in bourgeois interior scenes<\/strong> where mothers, sisters, and children form the fabric of everyday life observed without drama. The connection to *Le Berceau*<\/em> is clear\u2014Vuillard had seen it several times. <\/p>\n\n

Beyond direct homages, *Le Berceau*<\/em> brings about a structural transformation<\/strong> in Western painting. It paves the way for three essential shifts<\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n

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  1. Contemporary bourgeois motherhood<\/strong> is becoming a major subject in painting\u2014moving away from religious Nativity scenes and allegories.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n
      \n
    1. The presence of a child in a major work<\/strong> ceases to be merely anecdotal\u2014the child becomes a subject in his or her own right in modern painting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n
        \n
      1. The female perspective<\/strong> on domestic life took on a pictorial dignity it had not previously possessed\u2014paving the way for Mary Cassatt, Paula Modersohn-Becker, and all the female painters of the 20th century.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

        It is in this sense\u2014and quite literally\u2014that *Le Berceau*<\/em> can be called \u201cthe first mother of Impressionism.\u201d<\/strong> Not only because it was the movement\u2019s first birthplace\u2014but because all the subsequent artistic \u201cbirthplaces\u201d in modern Western painting owe something to this small painting, measuring 56 \u00d7 46 centimeters<\/strong>, painted in Paris in the spring of 1872 by a young woman aged thirty-one. <\/p>\n\n

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        How to View the Work Today<\/h2>\n\n

        “The Cradle<\/em> ” is on display at the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay<\/strong><\/a> in Paris. Practical information: <\/p>\n\n