Girl with Shuttlecock (also known as Jeanne Bonnet) 1888

Berthe Morisot captured this pastel drawing of Jeanne Bonnet with a shuttlecock in her private garden, likely in the late 19th century. Morisot, as a female Impressionist, navigated the gendered constraints of the art world with exceptional skill and insight. Here, Jeanne is depicted engaged in leisure, a subject that reflects the lives of bourgeois women and children. However, Morisot's soft strokes and intimate composition invite us to consider the interior life of her subject beyond the constraints of social expectations. The girl's gaze, slightly averted, suggests a sense of contemplation. Morisot once wrote: "I don't think there has ever been a man who treated a woman as an equal, and that's all I would have asked for, for I know I'm worth as much as they are." Her art reflects this desire for equality, presenting female subjects with a nuanced emotional depth. "Girl with Shuttlecock" invites us to consider the complexities of gender and identity in the late 19th century, resonating with an intimate and timeless quality.