Boats at quay 1886

Berthe Morisot painted Boats at Quay, a view of a bustling harbor rendered in oil with strokes as fleeting as memory itself. Here, the motif of the ladder appears, leaning against the quay, a humble yet potent symbol. We first encountered the ladder as a divine connection in ancient Mesopotamian art, a stairway for gods to descend. Think of Jacob’s ladder, a biblical motif, linking Earth and Heaven. Yet, as centuries pass, the ladder evolves. In Morisot's hands, it is no longer a path to divine enlightenment but a practical tool, a means for human interaction and labor. But, like those older depictions, it still allows access to a different plane, in this case, a symbolic connection between the terrestrial and the maritime, where the realities of trade and labor blend.