Comparing The Basket Chair, By Caillebotte And Morisot

The Impressionists in France, Gustave Caillebotte and Berthe Morisot, painted the modern lives of the bourgeoisie. They usually painted conservatories and relaxing scenes. The garden scenery is used by both Caillebotte and Morisot to show the modern living of France during the late 19th century. The painting“The Basket Chair” by Morisot, 1885, depicts a mother and her child in a garden behind a fence. “The Orange Tree” by Caillebotte, 1885, depicts a scene in a park. The Impressionistic garden scenery featured in both paintings conveys subject matters that are both literal and symbolic. The artists employ various techniques, such as use of light source coupled with a unique brushstrokes, which alters the clarity of the painting based on the viewer’s position and distance. Late 19th-century gender

Despite the title the chair does not receive full recognition. The color of the painting is also a subject matter; for instance, the chair’s color is similar to the girl’s hair in the painting. This sharing of color begets an inherent connection between the girl and the chair in the eyes of the viewer, and is a main characteristic in Morisot’s painting. This connection draws the viewer deeper into the painting for further analysis. Initially the basket chair resembles a mere oval-shaped blob. Upon closer inspection, the viewer can see the likeness to a womb. This womb-shaped chair, when seen alongside this young child serves to symbolize fertility and motherhood. The basket may not look the part but it could likely represent the mother. The woman who is lying in the painting’s background could not possibly be the mother because she has dark hair that is wholly unlike the girl’s. The woman in the back may possibly be a stranger, a distant relative, or perhaps even a