The butterfly hunt
Berthe Morisot·1874
Historical Context
The Butterfly Hunt was painted in 1874 and shown at the first Impressionist exhibition that year — a key early statement of what Morisot's Impressionism looked like. A woman and a child — probably her sister Yves Gobillard and niece — are seen from behind in a summer garden pursuing butterflies with a net: a subject that perfectly embodies Impressionist values of leisure, transience, childhood freedom, and summer light. The figures seen from the back avoid the conventional confrontation between sitter and viewer, and the subject of hunting something as evanescent as a butterfly mirrors the Impressionist desire to catch fleeting sensation in paint.
Technical Analysis
The summer garden is built with light, rapid strokes in a high-key palette of greens, creams, and golden yellows. The figures from the back — long skirts, a child's silhouette — are placed with asymmetric spontaneity.
