This is the first Parisian retrospective of Berthe Morisot‘s work in nearly fifty years! 150 pastels, charcoal drawings, paintings, watercolours and red chalk drawings lent by museums and private collectors from around the world…© musée Marmottan Monet, Paris / Bridgeman Art / Presse

Is Berthe Morisot really “the most illustrious woman in Impressionism”? Well, do you know a lot of others? Most of the names that come to mind are men (probably because young women weren’t even admitted to the Paris School of Fina Arts back then).

So it is not completely coincidental that the Musée Marmottan chose International Women’s Day to open its exhibition about Berthe Morisot.

You’ll be able to see the progress in her work, with many portraits of women, landscapes and decorative compositions décoratives, plus an explanation of the link between her work and that of more famous contemporaries such as Renoir and Monet. Altogether, one hundred and fifty works for your viewing pleasure.

A catalogue for the exhibition (in French) is being published (264 pages, 200 illustrations, 35€). A Beaux Art Magazine special (48 pages, 9€) is also available.

And don’t miss the monthly Tuesday evening concerts at the museum (13th March, 10th April, 22nd May, 12th June) at 7pm, “freely inspired by the link between Berthe Morisot and the artists of her time”. The programme at the bottom of this article has all the details.

And you may also like to know that one of Morisot’s paintings, valued at 800,000€ euros, apparently stolen and thought lost forever has been found… in the safe of a Paris art dealer! Shock! Horror! The police are looking into it. More on the story (in French) here.

The Berthe Morisot exhibition is at the Musée Marmottan (here) until 1st July 2012

Open every day except Mondays from 10am – 6pm (8pm Thursdays)

Admission: 10€ / 5€

Official site: www.marmottan.com

French speakers can peruse the press release below. Click the first button bottom left to go into fullscreen mode, or simply click here.