Impressionism (pt. 21)

Morisot's style of Impressionism also built on the brevity of scenes and the need for paintings to display what the eye sees over what the mind knows is there.  This portrait of her husband, Eugène, on the Isle of Wight demonstrates how she used very quick, choppy brushstrokes to identify a scene as transitory and short-lived.  Here we see Eugène pausing to look out a window at the seaside view outside.  Ships are out on the water, gliding along on errands each of their own personal importance, and a woman and little girl are just barely discernible along the walkway.  The scene will pass away in a moment—the little girl and woman will leave; the ships will move away; and the man at the window will turn back to his daily tasks.  It's as if Morisot is only catching an instantaneous, fuzzy glimpse of it.  That is why she paints it with such roughness and deformity.  She knows how she could paint all of these subjects realistically, but when she sees them in her daily life they are always moving too fast to get a clear picture.  Details are (forgive the pun) thrown out the window in this painting.