One of my favorite things about the smaller rooms of museums is how the curators organize 

the collection. Some rooms are dedicated to a single artist but the really cool ones are a mix of artists and when you really look you can see how each painting speaks to each other. 

There is one specific room in the Musée d’Orsay that I love and it is because of the paintings in the room and how each one has its own amazing story but together they tell another story.  On the ground floor of the Orsay in salle 12, you can find one of my favorite portraits, Berthe Morisot au Bouquet de Violettes by Manet.  I have a lot of favorites and if you have done a tour with me I will mention it about 1000 times but if I had to pick my top five favorite paintings, this would be one of them. 

The painting came into the collection of Berthe Morisot in 1894 when she purchased it from Théodore Duret. Sadly, Morisot died the next year but it would remain in the family through her daughter Julie Manet and grandson Clement Rouart until it was purchased in 1998 through various foundations for the Musée d’Orsay. 

I love the story of their friendship and how they met as she was a copyist in the Louvre and as soon as they met he wanted to paint her. Manet loved her dark looks, although her eyes were very green and captured her for the first time in the painting just to the right. Le Balcon was painted in 1868 and Berthe is seen sitting holding a fan and looking off into the distance. 

The other figures standing on the balcony include Jean-Baptiste Antoine Guillemet who was also an artist and the lovely lady on the right is Fanny Claus who was a violinist and friend of Manet’s wife Suzanne which we will see next. In her arms, she cradles an umbrella, a little nod to her father’s business. Hiding in the shadows is Suzanne’s son Léon who may have been Edouard Manet’s son or maybe even his brother. 

The next wall is Manet's Madame Manet au Piano, which is his wife Suzanne Leenhoff who arrived into his family as a piano teacher for the young Manet. Next to her is La Lecture also by Manet which shows a lovely Suzanne in a billowy white dress, that also takes you back to Le Balcon and in the background is her son, Léon who is also in Le Balcon. To the right is Monet’s painting of his wife also on a couch. 

James Tissot’s Portrait of Mademoiselle L.L., another portrait of a very fashionable woman in her red jacket that pops from the wall. Painted in 1864, Tissot who was a master at portraits uses an unusual pose that harkens back to more of an academic painting of the past. I love how she is looking across the room directly at Berthe and Le Balcon. Back to the wall with Berthe which includes two Renoir, Madame Darras, and Jeune femme à la Violette Stand back and look at this wall and how they all are tied together, and then look at the entire room and see how one theme leads to the next. 

Check out the video I made sharing this room as well as Manet’s Olympia and then up to the Impressionist gallery. And if you are coming to Paris this fall, reach out for a tour, days are filling up fast. Check ClaudineHemingway.com