Auf dem Ball

In the spring of 1876 this hung in the second Impressionist exhibition, a show the Paris press savaged as the work of lunatics. Berthe Morisot was the only woman among the painters being mocked, and here she showed a young woman dressed for an evening out, a fan lifted to her cheek. Morisot built the picture from quick silvery strokes and left the flowers at the bodice and the gauze of the gown half-dissolved, so the figure seems caught a moment before she turns. She was in her mid-thirties and working at full strength. The sitter's gaze slips past us, toward whatever room the ball is in.