Looking at this picture, where a young woman with expressive eyes and in a lush white dress imposingly stretches out on a large couch, many will hold their eyes for a short while – well, another masterpiece of the great Mane, how many more have these been painted by a talented painter. But those who know the amazing history of their relationship, will for a long time and closely consider the one that Manet loved passionately, but with which he could not be, and this was their common tragedy.
With Berta Manet met in the Louvre, and immediately decided – this is a new model for his paintings. The young artist, not burdened with family and children, liked the scandalous and already well-known Mane. For the first time, Berta will appear in the Manet’s painting “Balcony” and after firmly tied her life with the master for many years. She was the only woman in the “gang of Mans”, and their platonic connection lasted about five years – the artist, despite all his emancipation in the works, respected the high principles and about parting with his wife and children could not be.
However, at 32, Bertha decided to break this useless bond and married Manet, but only Eugen, the artist’s brother, succumbed to the persuasion of her mother. Her dream came true – she became Manet, and the painter at parting devoted her painting “A Bouquet of Violets”, which amazes with lyricism and sadness. Thus ended this love story, which mainly developed in the artistic space – the artist and the artist wrote each other, creating for their senses a new reality.
As a reminder of this story, numerous portraits of Bertha Mariozo-Manet are preserved, the most remarkable of which was painted in 1870, at the height of their relationship. The girl looks thoughtfully somewhere into the distance, highlighted by a special palette of the artist, and the whole background is darkened and written without distinct lines, so as not to distract from the main character. The attention is attracted by the hands of Berta, thin and long, suggesting that there is an unusual finely organized nature in front of the viewer. In general, this canvas is a kind of recognition of the master, which speaks of the admiration of her beauty and mind. Contemporaries recall that as soon as Manet saw Bert, he immediately grabbed his brush – he could not not write it.
Today, this remarkable canvas is located in the United States, in the capital of Rhode Island, the city of Providence. It is exhibited in the museum of the school of art.
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