# Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/berthe-marie-pauline-morisot/
Profile generated: 2026-05-02T04:01:13.609Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1841-01-14
- Death date: 1895-03-02
- Nationality: French
- Movements: Impressionism
- Common media: Oil painting, Watercolor, Pastel, Etching, Lithography, Drawing

## About Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot

Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (1841–1895) was a French painter and printmaker recognized as a central figure in the Impressionist movement. Born in Bourges, France, she trained in drawing and painting from a young age and became a founding member of the circle of Parisian artists known as the Impressionists. She exhibited with the group regularly and was the only woman to be listed in the first Impressionist exhibition catalogue in 1874. Morisot worked across oil painting, watercolor, pastel, etching, and lithography, developing a distinctive style marked by fluid brushwork and a luminous palette. She married Eugène Manet, brother of painter Édouard Manet, and was closely connected to the Parisian avant-garde. Her works are held in major public collections including the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Tate (London), and the Musée d'Orsay (Paris). She died in Paris on March 2, 1895.

## Common works and media

Morisot produced oil paintings on canvas, watercolors on paper, pastels, graphite and charcoal drawings, etchings, and lithographs. Her work spans domestic interiors, landscapes, garden scenes, informal portraits, and figure studies. Works range from small-scale sketches and studies to larger finished canvases. Prints in etching and lithography are less common at auction but do appear. Collectors may also encounter preparatory drawings and oil sketches that prefigure larger compositions.

## Market and appraisal context

Berthe Morisot's auction market spans two decades of recorded sales (2005–2025) with 25 tracked lots, 19 of which carry realized prices. Her works appear predominantly at top-tier Impressionist and Modern Art sales at Sotheby's and Christie's, with additional appearances at Bonhams, Van Ham Kunstauktionen, Koller Auctions, and regional houses. The price distribution is wide: prints and etchings at the low end realize $200–$720, while important oil paintings command six and seven figures. The top recorded result is $1,143,000 for "Devant la toilette" at Sotheby's in May 2023, and multiple works have exceeded $200,000. The median realized price across priced lots is approximately $69,850, reflecting a market where significant oils and major works on paper trade well above mid-range, while prints and minor works trade affordably. Liquidity is moderate—only 1–3 lots appear per year—consistent with a canonical Impressionist whose surviving body of work is finite and largely institutional. The 2023–2024 period saw a concentration of Sotheby's results including several six-figure sales, suggesting sustained demand at the high end.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Berthe Morisot's auction market spans two decades of recorded sales (2005–2025) with 25 tracked lots, 19 of which carry realized prices. Her works appear predominantly at top-tier Impressionist and Modern Art sales at Sotheby's and Christie's, with additional appearances at Bonhams, Van Ham Kunstauktionen, Koller Auctions, and regional houses. The price distribution is wide: prints and etchings at the low end realize $200–$720, while important oil paintings command six and seven figures. The top recorded result is $1,143,000 for "Devant la toilette" at Sotheby's in May 2023, and multiple works have exceeded $200,000. The median realized price across priced lots is approximately $69,850, reflecting a market where significant oils and major works on paper trade well above mid-range, while prints and minor works trade affordably. Liquidity is moderate—only 1–3 lots appear per year—consistent with a canonical Impressionist whose surviving body of work is finite and largely institutional. The 2023–2024 period saw a concentration of Sotheby's results including several six-figure sales, suggesting sustained demand at the high end.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily uses these auction records as comparable-sale context alongside photos of the work, measured dimensions, identified medium (oil on canvas, watercolor, pastel, etching, or drawing), signature and inscription details, condition reports and conservation history, documented provenance, and edition details where applicable. For Morisot, the strongest comparables are same-medium lots from Sotheby's and Christie's sales within the past five years. Oil paintings should be compared against the $200,000–$1,143,000 range observed for canvases at major houses; works on paper and prints should be benchmarked against the sub-$75,000 segment. Condition and authenticity verification against catalogue raisonné references are essential steps, as the spread between low-end prints and top-tier oils is over 5,000×.

### Valuation factors

- Medium: oil on canvas works command the strongest results (up to $1,143,000); watercolors and pastels trade in a mid-range; prints and etchings typically realize under $1,000
- Provenance: ownership history tracing to the Manet family, early Impressionist collectors, or known dealers significantly enhances value
- Authenticity: attribution must be verified against catalogue raisonné references; misattribution risk exists for works in the style of Morisot or from her circle
- Condition: 19th-century canvases and works on paper require careful condition assessment; conservation history affects value
- Subject matter: domestic interiors, women and children, garden scenes, and landscapes are characteristic subjects; iconic themes tend to attract stronger bidding
- Size and finish: larger finished canvases command premiums over small studies, sketches, and preparatory works
- Sale venue: results at Sotheby's and Christie's tend to be higher than at regional houses, reflecting buyer expectations and marketing reach
- Market timing: volume is low (1–3 lots per year), so individual sale results can be influenced by the quality of a particular consignment season

### Collector notes

- Morisot is a foundational Impressionist with deep institutional representation (MoMA, Tate, Musée d'Orsay), which supports long-term value stability. The auction record shows a clear tier structure: major oils trade in the hundreds of thousands to over one million dollars, while prints and etchings are accessible below $1,000. Works on paper including watercolors and pastels occupy a middle tier. Buyers should insist on catalogue raisonné verification and provenance documentation, especially for high-value attributions. The low annual volume of available works means that important pieces may take time to surface at auction. Collectors acquiring prints or minor works at regional houses should be aware that these represent a different market segment from the headline results at Sotheby's and Christie's.

### Market caveats

- The tracked lot count of 25 is moderate; some sales may not be captured in the Appraisily auction record index, so the full market picture may be broader than shown here.
- Price dispersion is extreme (approximately $200 to $1,143,000) and reflects fundamentally different market segments—prints versus important oil paintings—that should not be averaged together.
- Several lots lack realized prices (6 of 25), which may indicate buy-ins, withdrawn lots, or post-sale data gaps; these are excluded from the price distribution.
- One lot (Koller Auctions, 2014) appears to be a Helmut Newton book referencing Morisot rather than a work by her, suggesting a possible cataloging error in the feed.
- Attribution for Morisot works benefits from specialist evaluation; 19th-century French Impressionist attribution is an established but nuanced field.
- Currency conversion between USD, GBP, EUR, and CHF lots means that cross-currency price comparisons are approximate and do not account for exchange-rate fluctuations at the time of sale.

### Market evidence sources

- Appraisily auction record index: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/berthe-marie-pauline-morisot/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine verified artist identity research from library authority files and museum collections with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Berthe Morisot, identity data has been confirmed against the Library of Congress Name Authority File, the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, VIAF, and museum collection records from MoMA and Tate.

## Sources

- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n81145877
- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/57772
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q105320
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthe_Morisot
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/19789146/
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/4095
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/berthe-morisot-1663
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500029669